Congress reshuffle: A damp squib as Rahul Gandhi pours old wine in new bottle

New Delhi: The much-delayed organisational reshuffle announced by the Congress leadership on Friday has turned out to be a damp squib as it failed to enthuse a demoralised cadre that was expecting sweeping changes to galvanise the party.

First things first, the rejig appears to have been carried out to accommodate some tried, tested, and failed leaders.

Take for example former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel. He has been appointed as a general secretary and given the charge of Punjab, which, along with Kerala, is one of the only states where the Congress hopes to make a comeback in the next few years. After the Delhi drubbing, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is facing tremendous pressure in Punjab to perform in the remaining tenure. The next assembly elections are due in 2027.

Baghel was widely expected to return as the Chhattisgarh chief minister in the 2023 assembly elections, but allegations of corruption in the context of the Mahadev online betting case and severe infighting within the Congress ensured a convincing victory for the BJP. Baghel had clearly snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, given that the Congress was poised to return to power a few months before the polls.

Undoubtedly, the reshuffle had a clear stamp of approval from Rahul Gandhi, and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge just managed to get his close aide and Rajya Sabha member Syed Naseer Hussain appointed as a general secretary. Kharge's role seemingly ended there. Hussain will look after the party's responsibilities in Jammu and Kashmir apart from Ladakh.

Many in the Congress believe that injustice has been done to veteran BK Hariprasad by appointing him as an in-charge and not a general secretary. Hariprasad, who had been a general secretary many years ago, has now been appointed as the in-charge of Haryana.

Former Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu was inducted as the in-charge of Odisha, courtesy of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, at the cost of her other close associate, Rajeev Shukla.

The rest are all Rahul Gandhi's appointees.

Meenakshi Natarajan is the new in-charge of Telangana, Krishna Allavuru will look after Bihar, Harish Chaudhary (Madhya Pradesh), K Raju (Jharkhand), and Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka (Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura, and Sikkim).

Another Rahul Gandhi favourite and former Goa Congress president, Girish Chodankar, was shifted from northeastern states to Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

Apart from Shukla, those axed are Mohan Prakash, Dipak Babaria, Bharatsinh Solanki, Ajoy Kumar, and Devender Yadav.

Apparently, Congress leaders from Punjab heaved a sigh of relief with Harish Chaudhary's appointment as Madhya Pradesh in-charge. He had been consistently interfering in the party's Punjab affairs for years now and is said to be responsible for the exodus of many Congress leaders.

Overall, a damp squib rejig.