Digvijay Cong's MP coordination committee chief, Scindia of poll panel

The Congress today named senior party leader Digvijay Singh as the chairman of its coordination committee for Madhya Pradesh where elections are due later this year.

The appointment of the former chief minister of the state comes at a time the party has been making efforts to unite disparate factions in the state ahead of the crucial elections.

The coordination committee also includes former Rajya Sabha MP Satyavrat Chaturvedi.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi appointed former minister Jyotiraditya Scindia as the chief of the election campaign committee, while Suresh Pachauri, another prominent leader, was named election planning committee chief.

The election campaign committee also includes senior party leaders Kantilal Bhuria, Vivek Tankha and Arun Yadav.

Gandhi set up a number of committees ahead of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections in a bid to activate the state unit of the party.

Out of power in Madhya Pradesh for the last 15 years, the party has been in disarray in the state, with factions forming under several leaders.

The manifesto committee will be chaired by Rajendra Singh and Tankha. Meenakshi Natarajan will be its vice chairperson and Narendra Nahata its convener.

The disciplinary action committee will be chaired by Hazarilal Raghuvanshi, with Chandra Prabash Shekhar as a co-chairman.

The media and communications committee will be chaired by Manak Aggarwal.

Gandhi also approved the appointment of 20 district presidents in the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee.

The term of the 230-member Assembly comes to an end in January 2019 and the polls are due to be held in the state later this year.