Bhubaneswar: In a bid to revamp the Congress in Odisha, All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday replaced deputy Odisha in-charge Subhankar Sarkar and appointed three AICC secretaries in his place.
As per a release by the AICC, former MLAs Rudra Raju of Andhra Pradesh, former MLA of Delhi Anil Kumar Chaudhary and former MLA Shaikh Mastan Vali will take charge of their new assignment as AICC secretaries for Odisha with immediate effect.
Apart from appointing the three new AICC secretaries, Aditya Sharma has also been appointed as AICC Joint Secretary for Odisha with immediate effect, the release added.
The appointment of the four new AICC secretaries came a day after the statement of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Prasad Harichandan that there will be a a ‘Nabakalebara’ (revamp) from booth-level to the top.
The AICC president on March 30 had appointed former Union Minister of State for Sports Jitendra Singh in place of BK Hariprasad against whom several OPCC members had lodged complaint with the party supremo.
Expressing satisfaction over the appointment of new AICC secretaries, senior Congress leader Sarat Rout said it is a great relief for the Odisha Congress as the party high command has decided to give special emphasis to strengthen the party base at the grassroots.
Sources in the party said with the appointment of new AICC leaders for Odisha, speculation is rife in the restructuring of the OPCC with a change in leadership.
Since there has been intra-party bickering in the OPCC over the leadership of Prasad Harichandan, it now remains to be seen as to what decision the party supremo is going to take in this regard.
The OPCC chief had told the media on Saturday that while the organizational elections in the Odisha Congress has been completed, the names of the Block and District Congress presidents would be announced very soon after which there would be a revamp in the OPCC.
