Cong acts fast, appoints new Delhi, Karnataka chiefs

In key organisational changes, the Congress on Wednesday appointed young face Anil Chaudhary as its Delhi unit chief and named D K Shivakumar, known to be the party's chief troubleshooter in crisis situations, as the head of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi named Chaudhary the president of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee and Abhishek Dutt, Shivani Chopra, Jaikishan, Mudit Agarwal and Ali Hassan its vice-presidents, a party statement said.

Subhash Chopra had resigned as the Delhi Congress chief in February, taking moral responsibility for the party's debacle in the assembly polls held last month.

The Congress drew a blank for the second time in a row in the Delhi Assembly polls and reduced its vote share from 9.7 per cent in 2015 to 4.27 per cent this time.

Chaudhary, in his 40s, is an ex-MLA from Patparganj, former Councillor, former president of the Delhi Youth Congress and ex-chief of the Delhi National Students' Union of India.

Among the vice-presidents, three are children of senior Delhi Congress leaders -- Shivani Chopra is daughter of Subhash Chopra while Mudit Agarwal is J P Agarwal's son and Ali Hassan Hasan Ahmed's.

In Karnataka, 57-year-old Shivakumar replaced Dinesh Gundu Rao as the KPCC chief.

Eashwar Khandre, Satish Jharkiholi and Saleem Ahammed have been named working presidents of the state unit by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, a party statement said.

Former chief minister Siddaramaiah will continue to be the Chief of Legislative Party and the Leader of Opposition
in the Karnataka Assembly.

While Ajay Singh was appointed as the chief whip in the Karnataka Assembly, M Narayanaswamy will be the party's chief whip in the Legislative Council.

Siddaramaiah had stepped down as the CLP leader while Dinesh Gundu Rao had resigned as state Congress president on December 9 after the party's poor performance in the assembly bypolls at 15 places.

While the ruling BJP won 12 seats, Congress could secure only two seats namely Hunasuru and Shivajinagar. An independent candidate won from Hoskote.

The bypolls were necessitated due to the disqualification of 17 MLAs which brought down the coalition government of Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular.

The BJP's thumping victory in the bypolls helped the saffron party gain majority in the Karnataka assembly with 117 seats minus the speaker.

Last month, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad had held discussions with top party leaders in Karnataka to select the CLP leader and new state Congress president.