Congress replaces four vice-presidents, three general secretaries in Chhattisgarh unit

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday appointed additional office-bearers in the party's Chhattisgarh unit, replacing four vice-presidents as well as three general secretaries. The development came amid speculation over the possibility of a leadership change in Chhattisgarh where cabinet minister T S Singh Deo is vying for the chief minister post.

Arun Singhania, P R Khunte, Ambika Markam and Vani Rao were appointed vice-presidents in the Congress' state unit, replacing Girish Devangan, Atal Srivastava, Bhanu Pratap Singh and Padma Manhar, according to a party statement.

Vasudev Yadav, Amarjeet Chawla and Sumitra Dhritlahre were appointed general secretaries in place of Dwarika Prasad Yadav, Uttam Vasudev and Pankaj Sharma.


Sushil Anand Shukla was appointed head of the communication department of the party's Chhattisgarh unit in place of Shailesh Nitin Trivedi.

Four new DCC chiefs were also appointed.

In another appointment, the Congress named Neeraj Pandey the head of NSUI's Chhattisgarh unit, replacing Smash Sharma. Manjul Tripathi was named NSUI Madhya Pradesh unit chief, replacing Vipin Wankhede.

The party also announced its candidate for assembly bypolls -- Chalrosanga Ralte for Tuirial in Mizoram; Balmoori Venkat Narsingh Rao for Huzurabad in Telangana; and Nitendra Singh for Prithvipur in Madhya Pradesh.

The Congress also appointed K Abdul Jabbar as the chairman of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee' minority department.