All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala who played a key role in the party’s successful election effort in Karnataka as the party’s state in-charge was on Monday appointed senior observer for coordinating the Congress’s poll preparations in Madhya Pradesh.
The party appointed veteran leader Madhusudan Mistry as the senior observer for Rajasthan and deputed former Himachal Pradesh unit chief Pritam Singh as the senior observer for Chhattisgarh. West Bengal Congress leader Deepa Dasmunshi will be the senior observer for Telangana. The AICC leader In charge of the party’s training department, Sachin Rao, has been appointed observer for Mizoram.
While the Congress is a united house in Madhya Pradesh, with Kamal Nath virtually emerging as the chief ministerial face, Mistry is likely to face a tough time in Rajasthan. The Congress there is riven by factionalism, with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and senior leader Sachin Pilot pulling the party in different directions. The party has settled the leadership tussle in Chhattisgarh by appointing T S Singh Deo as the Deputy Chief Minister.
Former IAS officer Sasikanth Senthil, who headed the Congress war room in Karnataka, will assist Mistry in the role of observer in Rajasthan. The other observers are former Mumbai Mayor Chandrakant Handore (Madhya Pradesh), Meenakshi Natarajan (Chhattisgarh), and Sirivella Prasad (Telangana).