Rahul Gandhi to head party’s 2014 poll panel

The reluctant Rahul Gandhi has taken his first step on the Congress party’s national stage. He has been appointed as the chairman of the party’s six-member coordination committee for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. However, the much anticipated reshuffle of the AICC’s organisational set-up is still being eagerly awaited.

The move is a follow-up of the party-government dialogue session last week and is accompanied by the setting up of three other sub-groups. However, the announcement late Thursday evening caught the party headquarters unawares, as the staff had called it a day.

The others on the committee are Ahmed Patel, Janardan Dwivedi, Digvijay Singh, Madhusudan Mistry and Jairam Ramesh.

The three other sub-groups also indicate the areas of concern for the party with an eye on the preparations for the elections. These include pre-poll alliances, preparation of manifesto and the government’s programme implementation, as well as communications and publicity.