New Delhi, Sep 21: The Congress on Saturday appointed Supriya Shrinate, a former Delhi-based journalist and daughter of late Uttar Pradesh MP Harsh Vardhan, as the party spokesperson.

"Sonia Gandhi has approved the appointment of Shrinate as spokesperson of the All India Congress Committee," the party's communications in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala said in a statement.

Shrinate had contested unsuccessfully as a Congress candidate from Uttar Pradesh's Maharajganj parliamentary constituency in the Lok Sabha polls.

In March, the Congress replaced jailed politician Amarmani Tripathi's daughter Tanushree Tripathi with Shrinate as its Lok Sabha candidate from Maharajganj, which was earlier represented by the former journalist's father.

The party faced a major embarrassment when Tanushree Tripathi's name was announced both by the grand old party and the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia led by Mulayam Singh Yadav's brother Shivpal Singh Yadav.

Shrinate's father Harsh Vardhan was also a Congress leader.

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Kolar: Urging the closure of the liquor shop opened by the government-owned Mysore Sales International Limited (MSIL) in Begli Benjenahalli of Kolar taluk, the people in the village staged a protest and also boycotted the polls this year.

Although the election officers visited the village to urge them to compulsorily exercise their right to franchise in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, but failed to convince the locals. The protesters were adamant in their demand for the closure of the MSIL bar, which has been opened on the outskirts of the village.

The people of Begli Benjenahalli had earlier staged a protest outside the office of the Excise Department, demanding a denial of permission to MSIL to open the bar.

While the village has 540 voters, it is reported that none of them has cast vote in the current elections.