Former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Harish Rawat has been appointed as the All India Congress Committee general secretary and Congress Working Committee member in addition to being made the party in charge of Assam. The development comes at a time when Rawat was being viewed as a strong Congress leader in Uttarakhand amidst reported factionalism within the party here. His elevation to the national level post in the AICC was confirmed by his spokesman Surendra Kumar while talking to The Pioneer. Observers point out that the effects of this development would be interesting especially at a time when another party veteran, leader of opposition and Haldwani MlA Indira Hridayesh had more than once questioned Rawat on some points recently.