Major reshuffle in Congress

Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress carried out a major organisational reshuffle on Thursday, bringing senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad back as party general secretary and giving him the charge of four states, besides changing the work allocation of almost all other general secretaries.

Azad, a former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister who has had one of the longest tenure in the Congress Working Committee, was given charge of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Orissa. Azad had in the past looked after a number of states.

The work allocation of the nine general secretaries has also been changed. Rahul Gandhi will continue to look after the Youth Congress and NSUI, while Digvijay Singh will look after Uttar Pradesh apart from looking after the publicity wing.

Mohsina Kidwai has been given the charge of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh, while Mukul Wasnik will be in-charge of the party affairs in Delhi, Rajasthan and would also look after the Sewa Dal.