Cong revamped with eye on UP

SONIA GANDHI?S worries over the state of her party in Uttar Pradesh came out clearly in the organisational changes announced on Friday. While UPCC chief Salman Khurshid has been dropped from the Congress Working Committee (CWC), Satyavrat Chaturvedi has been removed from the charge of Uttar Pradesh.

Gehlot in charge of state, Rahul still out

SONIA GANDHI’S worries over the state of her party in Uttar Pradesh came out clearly in the organisational changes announced on Friday. While UPCC chief Salman Khurshid has been dropped from the Congress Working Committee (CWC), Satyavrat Chaturvedi has been removed from the charge of Uttar Pradesh.

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Against the backdrop of a running battle between these two key functionaries, the Congress president's signal to partymen in UP is clear: instead of fighting among yourselves, fight the political odds.

From being AICC general secretary and a regular CWC member, Chaturvedi is now just one of the 14 ‘permanent invitees’ to the committee. From now on, he will look after AICC departments, cells and training.

Rahul Gandhi's much-awaited induction in the party organisation hasn't come about. But the reshuffle has left five vacancies in the 25-member CWC. Congress sources also hinted at some pruning in the list of 32 AICC secretaries after the party's Hyderabad plenary (January 21-23). The changes may also be influenced by the impending cabinet reshuffle.

Soz has, in fact, become a full-fledged CWC member in place of Ghulam Nabi Azad and M.L. Fotedar, now a permanent invitee to the committee, who continues to be important by virtue of his membership of the Central Election Committee (which hasn’t been touched). On the UP front, Noor Bano, who lost to Samajwadi Party’s Jaya Prada in 2004, has entered the CWC as a permanent invitee.

Chaturvedi has been replaced by the level-headed Ashok Gehlot as general secretary in charge of UP and the elevation of Hariprasad and Narayanswamy as AICC general secretaries.