PANAJI
Dr Chellakumar and Venugopal replaced AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh as in-charge for these two states.
Dr Chellakumar supervised the work of the party during the 2017 Goa Assembly campaign along with Singh. Sources from the party insisted that Singh was asked to step down following the failure of the Congress in forming the government despite emerging as the single largest party in the state Assembly.
Singh took to Twitter to react to the development. “I am happy finally new Team is being picked up by Rahul ji. I enjoyed working with Congress Leaders and Workers in Goa and Karnataka. Convey my gratitude for all their support. I am loyal to the Party and Nehru Gandhi Family and owe my position to the Party and to them,” the senior Congressman stated in a series of tweets late on Saturday evening.
The development follows Congress’ failure to form its government in Goa despite having emerged as the single largest party in the assembly election this February.
The party had clinched 17 seats in the 40-member legislature, four more than the BJP, which managed to cobble together a majority with local parties to form its government under Manohar Parrikar.Meanwhile, along with Dr Chellakumar, AICC president has also appointed the party’s national secretary Amit Deshmukh to oversee the working of the Goa desk. Deshmukh represents the Latur City constituency in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. He is the son of former chief minister of Maharashtra late Vilasrao Deshmukh.