Congress revamps Gujarat organisation, appoints new Secretaries

New Delhi, March 26: The Congress on Friday appointed three Secretaries to work in Gujarat where elections are due later this year, and removed the current leaders. Umang Singhar, Virender Singh Rathore and B.M. Sandeep have been given the responsibility of assisting Raghu Sharma who is in charge of the state. Ramkishan Ojha has also been drafted for party work in the state.

The Congress is out of power in Gujarat since 1989 and in the last elections, despite coming close, could not dislodge the ruling BJP. The party is preparing to galvanise the state organisation in order to mount a serious challenge. In a recent meet chaired by senior leader Rahul Gandhi, state leaders mentioned the option of poll strategist Prashant Kishor beingh brought in for strategy.

However, there was no decision and the leaders moved on to discuss the organisational issues of the party, a source said. There are said to be back-channels talks going on again after the initial negotiations failed, but the Congress denied it. However, the party has taken on board a close aide of Kishor, to work for the party without any condition, as the joining of the political consultant was stalled by Congress leaders because he wanted a major say in ticket distribution.

The BJP has already started preparing for the Gujarat elections. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has already visited the state after the party's triumph in the five Assembly elections, recently met all party MPs from the state.