New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday appointed his younger sister Priyanka Gandhi as the party General Secretary in charge of Eastern Uttar Pradesh to galvanise the Congress cadre in the state which sends a maximum number of 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha.
In an organisational shake-up ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the party also announced the appointment of Jyotiraditya Scindia, MP from Guna in Madhya Pradesh, as the Congress General Secretary in charge of Western Uttar Pradesh.
Priyanka Gandhi's entry into active politics is being seen as a masterstroke which will boost the morale of party workers in a state where Congress influence has been waning over the years and where the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have announced a tie-up.
Priyanka Gandhi, who turned 47 on January 12, will assist her brother and Congress president Rahul Gandhi in the Hindi heartland state, which has 80 Lok Sabha seats, the largest of any state in the country.
There had been speculation over her entry into active politics and the party and her mother Sonia Gandhi had said that she would take the plunge when she decides so.
Priyanka Gandhi was earlier actively involved in key decision making in the party along with her mother and brother, including the selection of new chief ministers for Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh recently.
Priyanka Gandhi and Scindia replace Ghulam Nabi Azad, who has been appointed AICC general secretary for Haryana, where the party is divided into factions.
The Congress chief appointed K C Venugopal as general secretary Organisation. He replaces Ashok Gehlot, who has since become chief minister of Rajasthan.
Venugopal will continue to be AICC general secretary for Karnataka, where the party is in power with the Janata Dal Secular.
"The party appreciates the contribution of Ashok Gehlot as AICC general secretary (Organisation)," a note from the party chief said.
Meanwhile, the BJP in Uttar Pradesh linked Rahul Gandhi’s fall in his party to the rise of Priyanka Gandhi, who has been put in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
"Congratulations to Priyanka Gandhi on her appointment and assignment, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and UP minister Siddharth Nath Singh said.
However, it is also an admission that in the Gandhi family, the dependence on Rahul is over, he added. He said Rahul Gandhi's fall is the rise of Priyanka Gandhi in the Congress.
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