Rahul Gandhi acolyte Avinash Pande made Rajasthan general secretary

NEW DELHI: Continuing with the organisation reshuffle, Congress has appointed AICC secretary Avinash Pande as AICC general secretary in charge of Rajasthan. Pande hails from Maharashtra and is known to be close to Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi.

Pritam Singh, ‘Thakur’, who represents a constituency reserved for STs in the Jaunsara area, will be the new PCC chief in Uttrakhand, replacing Kishore Upadhyay. Singh is a relatively younger leader, who has risen from NSUI/Youth Congress and the son of the late Congress leader Gulab Singh. He is known to be neutral in the faction-ridden state unit.

The AICC also named senior leader Sunil Jakhar, supporter of Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh, as state PCC president, reliving Singh of his party post. It also retained the ‘Sikh-Hindu balance’ in the state Congress.


Though Pande replaces Gurudas Kamat, AICC spokesman Randeep Surjewala said Kamat would continue as AICC general secretary, without organisational charge at the moment. Surjewala stressed that all the appointments were made by “both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi”.