NEW DELHI/DEHRADUN : The Congress has appointed Harish Choudhary as the new in-charge of the All India Congress Committee in Punjab in place of Harish Rawat, who had sought to relieve himself of the charge a few days ago.
Choudhary is the Revenue Minister in the Congress government in Rajasthan. The party is considering Rawat’s request to be posted in Uttarakhand. Choudhary, said to be a troubleshooter in the Rajasthan Congress, is expected to sort things out in Punjab after the removal of Amarinder Singh. Infighting has intensified in Punjab between new Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and state party chief Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Meanwhile, party leaders said that Harish Rawat wanted to consolidate his position in Uttarakhand. “Rawat will continue to be a CWC member. His presence is required in UP and Uttarakhand where polls are due next year,” said a senior party leader.
The Congress veteran had requested the party leadership on October 20 to relieve him so that he can focus on Uttarakhand where rain-related disasters has affected people. Rawat travelled to disaster hit Nainital district. He also alleged that there has been no relief work by the BJP government.
“The state government must declare the Nainital district disaster hit and work towards relief accordingly. There has been no proper relief work by the government,” said Rawat. “We are giving 10 days to the Uttarakhand government and if there is no proper relief work initiated, we will go for hunger strike and then protests.”
Sonia’s strategy meet on Oct 26
New Delhi: Congress chief Sonia Gandhi will chair a meeting of party general secretaries, state in-charges and leaders on October 26 to discuss strategies for membership drive, agitation related activities and upcoming assembly election. The meeting has been scheduled ahead of party’s plan to launch a massive membership drive from November 4. The party will also kick off a sustained agitation programme from November 19 to take on the BJP government on issues of inflation, farmer agitation and monetisation policy. Sources said that the meeting will discuss a roadmap of activities and strategies to be undertaken and for the assembly elections.