Congress rejig: Surjewala appointed in-charge of MP, Ajai Rai made UP unit chief

New Delhi: Effecting an organisational shake-up, the Congress on Thursday appointed Randeep Surjewala as general secretary in-charge of poll-bound Madhya Pradesh and former MLA Ajai Rai as the chief of the party's Uttar Pradesh unit.

Also, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge appointed Mukul Wasnik as general secretary in-charge of Gujarat, replacing Raghu Sharma.

Surjewala, who is the in-charge of Karnataka, has been given the additional charge of Madhya Pradesh, replacing Jai Prakash Agarwal.

Kharge appointed Rai, who had unsuccessfully contested against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls, as the president of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee, with immediate effect, replacing Dalit leader Brijlal Khabri.

"The party appreciates the contribution of the outgoing PCC president Brijlal Khabri, Ex-MP, and all the zonal presidents," the party said in a statement issued by general secretary organisation K C Venugopal.

Surjewala was recently appointed as a senior election observer by the party in Madhya Pradesh which goes to polls later this year.

An organisational overhaul of several state units of the Congress is underway and more appointments are likely to be made in the coming days.