Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is also the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, has been made General Secretary of the party in charge of Uttar Pradesh, while Gandhi family loyalist Kamal Nath has been asked to look after Punjab and Haryana.
The appointments were made by party chief Sonia Gandhi on 12 June. Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab are scheduled early next year.
The battle for UP is already heating up as BJP chief Amit Shah launched a sharp attack on Congress at the BJP National Executive meeting. Shah claimed committed leaders were leaving the Congress due to its ‘obstructionist’ attitude towards development.
He also launched an offensive against the Samajwadi Party regime in UP for its “goonda raj” that resulted in the Mathura violence and an alleged exodus of Hindus from Kairana.
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