Delhi and Odisha Cong units may get new chiefs

After the change of guard in Punjab following last year’s poll debacle, Congress is mulling the option of a new state unit head for Delhi in a bid to strengthen its electoral prospects.

After the change of guard in Punjab following last year’s poll debacle, Congress is mulling the option of a new state unit head for Delhi in a bid to strengthen its electoral prospects. Odisha, where the Congress is out of power for more than a decade, may also get a new PCC chief to revive the organisation ahead of assembly elections due in 2014.

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Congress sources claimed that the party may give more elbow space to its three-time chief minister Sheila Dikshit. The elections in Delhi are due towards the end of this year. Earlier this month, Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh was replaced by Gurdaspur MP Partap Singh Bajwa.

According to party sources, both party president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul — the new vice-president of Congress — will decide on these posts even as hectic lobbying has already begun in different state units of the Congress.

While Jai Prakash Agarwal is almost certain to be shifted out of the Delhi Congress president’s post, party insiders see four leaders as his potential replacement including local MLA Rajesh Lilothia.