New Delhi, April 22
In a “please-all” reshuffle in the All-India Congress Committee, Congress President Sonia Gandhi today appointed two political secretaries, filled up vacancies in the Congress Working Committee, reallocated work among general secretaries and changed some secretaries.

Ms Ambika Soni and Mr Ahmed Patel have been made political secretaries to the Congress President. While Mr Shivraj Patil and Mr Vyalar Ravi have been nominated to the Congress Working Committee, Mr J.B. Patnaik and Mr S.B. Chavan will be permanent invitees to the CWC in addition to all the Congress Chief Ministers. Kerala Chief Minister A.K. Antony and Uttaranchal Chief Minister N.D. Tiwari are members of the CWC already. Ms Omem Deori and Mr Salman Khursheed will be special invitees to the CWC.

Mr Vyalar Ravi and Mr Mukul Wasnik have been promoted as general secretaries. Except for Mr Mahabir Prasad, who is the only general secretary to have been dropped, the secretaries removed have been given alternative assignments or have already become MLA or MLC. Mr Anil Shastri, who will not be an AICC sectretary now, has been made editor of ‘Sandesh.’

Mr Abhishek Singhvi will be a new spokesman of the Congress in addition to Mr Anand Sharma and chief spokesman Jaipal Reddy. Mr Reddy will also be an ex-officio invitee to the CWC.

AICC treasurer Motilal Vora, who till now was incharge of Punjab and Maharashtra, has now been put in charge of the crucial state of UP and Uttaranchal.

Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad was looking after these states till he was sent as PCC chief to Jammu and Kashmir. Mr Azad will not report to any general secretary with the Congress President’s office directly looking after Jammu and Kashmir.

In addition to looking after the Congress President’s office, Ms Ambika Soni will be incharge of Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Kerala, Rajasthan and the media department.

Ms Mohsina Kidwai will be incharge of Chandigarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Assam. Mr Kamal Nath will look after Delhi, Orissa, West Bengal and Gujarat. Mr Oscar Fernandes will take care of AICC sessions, CWC meetings, organisational and election work.

Mr Vyalar Ravi will be in charge of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka. Mr Mukul Wasnik will be in charge of frontal organisations including the Youth Congress, Mahila Congress and the NSUI.

Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar will be incharge of Sikkim besides all the north-eastern states except Assam.

Mr Ramesh Cheninthala, an AICC secretary with independent charge, will look after Goa, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Daman, Diu, Lakshdeep and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Mr Janardhan Dwivedi will look after the Congress Seva Dal while being attached to the office of the Congress President.

Ms Ambika Soni will continue to head the AICC media department which will now have more members. The members include Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mr Natwar Singh, Mr T. Subbi Rama Reddy, Mr Vishwabandu Gupta, Mr Rajiv Desai, Mr Syed Sibte Rizvi, Ms Prabha Thakur, Mr Priyaranjan Dasmunshi, Mr Suresh Pachauri and Mr Eduardo Felario.

Ms Renuka Chaudhary has been made co-chairperson of the Kisan, Khet Mazdoor Congress which till now was headed by Mr Balram Jhakhar.

Mr K. Natwar Singh will be the chairman of the editorial board of ‘Sandesh’ which includes Mr Ajit Jogi, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar, Ms Girja Vyas, Mr Salman Khursheed and Mr Sarabjit Singh.

While Ms Krishna Thirath, Mr Pervez Hashmi and Mr Iqbal Singh have been made new secretaries at AICC, Ms Santosh Chaudhary, Ms Sudha Joshi, Ms Omam Deori and Mr Bhubaneshwar Kalita have been dropped as secretaries. Ms Santosh Chaudhary has been made co-chairperson of the AICC relief committee, Ms Sudha Joshi is now an MLC in Maharashtra and Mr Kalita an MLA in Assam.