The Congress on Friday announced that Rajasthan Revenue Minister Harish Chaudhary will replace Harish Rawat as the in-charge for the party’s Punjab unit.
“Shri Harish Rawat is being relieved from his current responsibility as AICC [All India Congress Committee] In-Charge of Punjab and Chandigarh,” the party said in the statement. “He shall continue as member of CWC [Congress Working Committee].”
Chaudhary was being considered for the post since September, the Hindustan Times reported. At that time, Chaudhary had said that he will take any opportunity offered by the Congress.
Rawat worked as the Punjab in-charge for Congress when the party was hit with a political crisis with just months to go for Assembly polls.
Congress leader Amarinder Singh had stepped down as chief minister of Punjab on September 18 after his differences with state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu became public. Charanjit Singh Channi was sworn in as Punjab’s chief minister on September 20.
On September 28, Sidhu quit as the party’s state unit chief as he was reportedly upset about the changes introduced by Channi in the Punjab Cabinet.
Rawat has insisted that Sidhu will continue as the Punjab Congress chief.
The former state Congress in-charge has been critical of Singh. On Thursday, Rawat had said that Singh seemed to have “killed the secular Amarinder within himself” by considering to ally with the Bharatiya Janata Party. Singh had replied saying that Congress should not talk about secularism as it had inducting Sidhu into party who was “with BJP for 14 years”.
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