The Congress on Wednesday appointed Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to the post of general secretary for the Uttar Pradesh East region.
She is expected to take charge from the first week of February. The move is seen as her official entry into active politics. She is the sister of party chief Rahul Gandhi.
Party MP KC Venugopal was appointed the All India Congress Committee general secretary for the organisation after the incumbent Ashok Gehlot took over as the chief minister of Rajasthan last month. Venugopal will continue as the general secretary in-charge for Karnataka.
Gandhi also appointed Gwalior MP Jyotiraditya Scindia the All India Congress Committee general secretary for Uttar Pradesh West. Meanwhile, Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was the party’s general secretary for Uttar Pradesh, will now take up the post in Haryana, the party said.
Vadra had previously confined her role to campaigning for her mother Sonia Gandhi and brother Rahul Gandhi in their Lok Sabha constituencies Amethi and Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh. These are the only two Lok Sabha seats that the Congress holds in Uttar Pradesh.
Vadra was also involved in the discussions led by Rahul Gandhi to choose the chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh last month after multiple contenders came up for the posts.
Earlier this month, the Congress announced it will contest all 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh on its own after the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party excluded it from their alliance.
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