Congress appoints Jairam Ramesh as head of its communication, publicity and media wing

Congress has appointed senior leader Jairam Ramesh as general secretary incharge of its communication, publicity and media department.

Ramesh replaces Haryana politician and newly-elected Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Surjewala, who had been holding this charge since 2015. Ramesh's new job is bigger than Surjewala's as it comes with the added responsibility of handling the social and digital media initiative of Congress party. According to sources, this has been done to ensure the party line is followed across all public interface of Congress.

Ramesh, an articulate politician who is known to have a flair for the written word, has been entrusted with writing speeches for Sonia Gandhi since the time she took over as the Congress president in 1998. Later, Ramesh held crucial portfolios like rural development in the Congress-led UPA governments.