Congress appoints Surjewala as MP incharge, Wasnik Guj incharge, Ajay Rai new UP chief

New Delhi, Aug 17

Congress General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala, who delivered Karnataka as the party state incharge has been given additional charge for poll bound Madhya Pradesh by replacing senior party leader J.P Agarwal.

Senior party leader and General Secretary Mukul Wasnik has been appointed as the incharge of Gujarat by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge.

The Congress also announced former party MLA Ajay Rai as new Uttar Pradesh Congress unit chief by replacing Brijlal Khabri, ex MP and all the zonal presidents.

Congress General Secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal said; “Congress President has appointed Mukul Wasnik as General Secretary In-charge of Gujarat and Randeep Singh Surjewala with additional charge as General Secretary In-charge of Madhya Pradesh.”

“The party appreciates the contributions of Raghu Sharma and Jai Prakash Agarwal. They are relieved from their responsibilities as AICC in-charges,” he said.

Surjewala, a close confidante of Rahul Gandhi as the party's incharge of the state was tasked to unite the two factions and power houses of the state -- former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and state unit chief D.K Shivakumar in Karnataka.

Surjewala after being appointed as the state incharge spent maximum of his time in the southern state and did his best to bring the two leaders together ahead of the crucial assembly polls, thus giving a signal of the united party Karnataka.

Surjewala work started paying dividends when the B.S Bommai-led Karnataka government faced the charges of alleged corruption last year. He brought both the leaders together to attack the ruling party on charges of corruption.

Surjewala, who was earlier the party's communication in-charge also used his experience in Karnataka as he made both the leaders to speak on the issue of corruption, which helped the party in cornering the BJP in the southern state.