New Delhi, September 24
After months of speculation, Congress scion Rahul Gandhi was today finally appointed party general secretary in an exhaustive and long overdue organisational reshuffle which also saw the induction of several young faces and three junior ministers into the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) secretariat.

With the focus firmly on youth and the party’s “bablog” finding a place in the party hierarchy, several seniors like M.M.Jacob, Krishna Tirath and Begum Noor Bano have been left out in the cold, while those who have been retained have got fresh assignments.

Prithviraj Chavan, Ajay Maken and Shakeel Ahmed are the three ministers of state who have been given key responsibilities in the reconstituted AICC. It was, however, clarified that they will continue with their ministerial assignment.

Today’s rejig, dubbed by Congress insiders as the “team for the final match”, has assumed special significance since there is a lot of speculation about early Lok Sabha elections and it is imperative that a new team is in place well before the official announcement.

Gandhi junior, a first time MP from Amethi, was put in charge of Youth Congress and the National Students Union of India (NSUI), and is also finds a place in the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s highest decision-making body. In addition, Rahul was also named a member of an eight-member publicity committee and a new body mandated to deal with future challenges. By putting him in charge of the youth organisations, Congress president Sonia Gandhi appears to have followed in the footsteps of her mother-in-law who had given him these responsibilities on his induction in the party organisation.

Rahul Gandhi’s induction into the party has been long overdue. The 37-year-old MP had announced at the AICC session in Hyderabad last year that he was ready to play an active role in the party. Since then, there have been persistent demands from party cadres and senior leaders that Rahul take on organisational responsibilities at the earliest to enthuse the party rank and file.

Besides Rahul Gandhi, other youthful faces who have been given responsibilities in different committees and panels in the party include Jitin Prasad, Madhu Gowd Yakshi, Harender Mirdha and Priya Dutt, who are among the 10 new AICC secretaries. Rahul’s Lok Sabha colleagues Milind Deora and Jyotiraditya Scindia have been named members of the Department of Policy Planning and Coordination (DEPCO), while Sachin Pilot and Sandeep Dikshit are members of the newly constituted group to look into new challenges.

Rahul Gandhi will now be one of the party's 11 general secretaries including two-time MP chief minister Digvijay Singh, Margaret Alva, V. Narayanaswamy, former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and Mohsina Kidwai, who has returned to the party fold after a break.