Sonia Gandhi takes charge, reshuffles AICC teams

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday constituted a Communication Strategy Group in the All India Congress Committee (AICC).

The list includes many of the Congress veteran leaders:

- Mallikarjun Kharge

- Ghulam Nabi Azad

- Anand Sharma

- P. Chidambaram

- Mani Shankar Aiyar

- Jairam Ramesh

- Jyotiraditya Scindia

- Sushmita Deb

- Randeep Surjewala

- Rajeev Gowda

"The group will meet on a daily basis and assist the communication department of the AICC," stated a press release.

The Congress president has also assigned the task of looking after party affairs in Jharkhand to a new team comprising R.P.N. Singh, Umang Singhar and Mainul Haque.

Similarly, in Chhattisgarh, a new team has been formed by Sonia, in place of B.K. Hariprasad and Bhakta Charan Das. The state party affairs will now be looked after by P.L. Punia, Kamleshwar Patel and Arun Oraon.

Party vice-president Rahul Gandhi has recently been strongly criticised for his tweets, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) calling him 'immature' and inefficient to handle the party.

Also, the preliminary organisational reshuffle in the Congress party in May, sent out a clear signal that hibernating party president Sonia Gandhi has again opted to assume the 'captaincy' and act as a balancing point between son Rahul and the party's old guard.

Sources revealed that Sonia will 'actively' be involved in national politics and All India Congress Committee (AICC) affairs, while Rahul will be asked to focus on strengthening the party in the states.

-ANI