Congress ropes in CMs, senior leaders to coordinate, manage party's campaign in poll-bound states

Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday appointed senior observers for overseeing election campaign management and coordination in four states and one Union Territory, which will go to poll this year.

Congress Chief Ministers have been entrusted with the responsibility of winning elections in Kerala and Assam, where the Congress is looking forward to return to power.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, former union minister Mukul Wasnik, and Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmad Khan have been given responsibility for poll-bound Assam.

In Assam, Congress competes with BJP while it faces CPM in Kerala.

The party is planning a strategy to defeat the BJP by forging an alliance with Badruddin Ajmal's party All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF).

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, former Goa Chief Minister Luizinho Faleiro, ex-Karnataka deputy chief minister Dr G Parameshwara will oversee the party's poll campaign in Kerala.

Former union minister Dr M Veerappa Moily, former MoS Defence MM Pallam Raju and Maharashtra Cabinet Minister Nitin Raut have been tasked with the management of elections for Congress in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

In West Bengal, senior party leader BK Hariprasad, Jharkhand Minister Alamgir Alam and Punjab Minister Vijay Inder Singla will oversee the Congress campaign. The party will contest Assembly polls in alliance with the Left in Bengal.

Wasnik and Moily are the two names mentioned in the appointment of supervisors who were among the G-23 leaders who penned a letter to Sonia Gandhi demanding sweeping reforms in the party.

( With inputs from ANI )