Congress sets up 12-member panel to oversee campaign management ahead of State polls

According to the statement released by Congress on Thursday, the party has set up a 12-member panel to oversee election campaign management and coordination ahead of assembly elections in 4 states and a Union Territory. These 4 states & UT include Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry. Notably, the four states and the UT are scheduled to go to polls before May 2021.

According to the statement, Congress has appointed Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel and senior party leaders Mukul Wanki and Shakeel Ahmad Khan as senior observers for Assam. In Tamil Nadu, the party has appointed Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, former Goa CM Luizinho Faleiro and former Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara will take charge. The statement further added that Former Karnataka CM Veerapp Moily, along with Pallam Raju and Nitin Raut will oversee the poll preparedness in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. In West Bengal, BK Hariprasad, Alamgir Alam and Vijay Inder Singla have been appointed, it added.

Congress sets up 12-member panel 

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Congress general secretary KC Venugopal said that the appointed leaders will coordinate with the general secretaries to oversee preparations for the elections. They are all senior leaders who will monitor election management, he added. The statement by Congress further revealed that the Congress president Sonia Gandhi has appointed these leaders as senior observers for overseeing the election camp[aign management and coordination in states where assembly elections will be held in 2021. 

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As per the release, leaders' appointment is with immediate effect. They will discharge their duties in close coordination with AICC general secretaries and in-charges in the respective states. This comes as Congress faces uphill; task after it suffered a drubbing in the Bihar assembly elections in November 2020, where it won only 19 seats of the 20 seats it contested. The result of the Bihar polls has prompted the party to take other measures, including an outreach programme to win back women voters.

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In a massive jolt to Maharashtra Congress, its state chief Balasaheb Thorat has offered to resign from the post of party chief, reports sources on Monday. Thorat's offer to resign comes amid the grand old party's plans to restructure the state Congress. As per sources, an urgent meeting has been called over the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) chief post. Thorat, a close aide of Rahul Gandhi, has been facing massive backlash from Congress leaders over NCP or Shiv Sena and has had to often paly the peacemaker.

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