Cong's big reshuffle: Priyanka Gandhi replaced as in-charge of UP, Sachin Pilot gets Chhattisgarh
New Delhi, Dec 23: The Congress on Saturday appointed Sachin Pilot the general secretary in-charge of Chhattisgarh and Avinash Pande the general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, replacing Kumari Selja and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, respectively.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will now be a general secretary "without any assigned portfolio", according to a statement issued by the Congress.
The appointments come two days after a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), party's highest decision-making body, which was chaired by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and attended by senior leaders, including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
Pilot, a former deputy chief minister of Rajasthan, replaces Kumari Selja, who has now been given the charge as general secretary in-charge of Uttarakhand, the statement said.
Congress leader GA Mir is the general secretary in-charge of Jharkhand with the additional charge of West Bengal, it said. Deepa Dasmunshi has been appointed the general secretary of Kerala and Lakshadweep with additional charge of Telangana.
Senior leaders Jairam Ramesh, K C Venugopal, Mukul Wasnik and Randeep Singh Surjewala remain the general secretary in-charges of communication, organisation, Gujarat and Karnataka, respectively.
Jitendra Singh, who is the general secretary in-charge of Assam, was given the additional charge of Madhya Pradesh, while Deepak Babaria holds the charge of Delhi and the additional charge of Haryana, the statement said.
The appointments have been made with immediate effect by the Congress president, it said.
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Karnataka to witness heavy rain for next 10 days
Bengaluru: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast that the southwest monsoon will cause heavy rainfall likely this weekend and will drench Karnataka over the next 10 days.
The monsoon has begun retreating from northwestern India. Conditions remain active over the south, with an upper air trough extending up to 1.5 km over North Interior Karnataka and northern Tamil Nadu, combined with weakening monsoon winds across the peninsula, is driving the current spell. N. Puviarasan, head of the IMD’s meteorological centre in Bengaluru, said in a conversation with Deccan Herald, “As a result, the whole of Karnataka will see rain over the next week to 10 days."
With a cyclone in the Pacific Ocean along with a low-pressure system over the north Bay of Bengal, the monsoon is expected to intensify during the next four days. IMD has predicted heavy rains across South Interior Karnataka, including Bengaluru, throughout the weekend.
Bengaluru, recorded widespread moderate to heavy rainfall on Thursday. Between 8.30 am and 8.30 pm, Bengaluru city logged 45.9 mm of rain accompanied by thunderstorms. HAL airport registered 6 mm and the Bengaluru Urban automatic station recorded 47.5 mm. Doddathoguru, near Electronics City, reported 55 mm.
According to IMD forecast heavy rainfall will occur at isolated places in Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Yadgir, Koppal, Raichur, Ramanagara and Mandya districts in the next few days.
The southwest monsoon is now expected to extend until mid-October and with little or no break in between, the northeast monsoon is likely to follow immediately. These are expected to last until December. “There may be no break in between,” Puviarasan said.
