The Congress on Thursday replaced the PCC chiefs of Chhattisgarh and Delhi where the party suffered a humiliating defeat. Getting on to the organisational revamping mode ahead of the lok Sabha polls, AICC appointed Bhupesh Baghel as the Chhattisgarh Congress chief and Arvinder Singh lovely as the head of Delhi Congress.
Sources said following the replacement of three new PCC chiefs within a week more of their counterparts besides even Chief Ministers will be changed, especially where General Elections and Assembly polls would be held together. There is strong possibility of replacement of Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna.
The changes have set in motion the process for an organisational revamp to make the party fighting fit ahead of lok Sabha election, sources maintained. A former Minister in the State, Baghel, who was programme coordinator of the party under PCC chief and Union Minister Charan Das Mahant, replaced him within a fortnight of the assembly election results that saw the Congress losing even in Chhattisgarh where it had pinned high hopes.
The announcement was made by party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi, who said that the appointments have been made with immediate effect by party chief Sonia Gandhi. Mahant was made acting PCC chief on June 3, a week after senior party leaders in the state including PCC chief Nand Kumar Patel were massacred in a Maoist attack.
Mahant was not on the best of terms with former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi and the party had to take recourse to dinner diplomacy in Delhi to break the ice between them. It was the bitter rivalry between the two leaders that had prompted Congress to name octogenarian Motilal Vora as the campaign committee chief for the state to prevent the matter from slipping out of control. The Congress early this week replaced its Goa PCC chief Subhash A Shirodkar and appointed former MP John Fernandes as the state unit president. lovely replaced J P Agarwal, who resigned taking “moral responsibility” for the party’s worst-ever defeat in Delhi Assembly election.