New Delhi, July 17: R K Dhawan, Mohsina Kidwai and Vayalar Ravi were among the general secretaries dropped today and Margaret Alva, Salman Khurshid and Satyvrata Chaturvedi took their place as Congress president Sonia Gandhi revamped the AICC and the party`s working committe.
Rahul Gandhi, who had expressed willingness to work for the organisation without having any post, did not figure in the new list of office bearers of the AICC nor did any first time MP get a place in it except former Delhi minister Ajay Maken who has been made a secretary.
The other General Secretaries are Ambika Soni and Mukul Wasnik, both of whom were in the earlier set-up as also Digvijay Singh, Ashok Gehlot and Janardhan Dwivedi who were earlier holding independent charge of various states as special invitees to the CWC.
Among the dropped General Secretaries, Ravi had emerged as a front-runner for the post of Deputy Chairperson of Rajya Sabha.
In the reconstituted set-up, Ahmed Patel continues to be in the powerful post of political secretary to the Congress president while Ambika Soni has been allotted Congress president`s office as part of her various responsibilities but she has been dropped as chairperson of the media department. Girija Vyas, former Rajasthan PCC chief, has been given this post.
While R K Dhawan and Vayalar Ravi were dropped from 23-member reconstituted Congress Working Committee also, Mohsina Kidwai found a place in it.
Gandhi carried the much-awaited reconstitution of the AICC secretariat and the CWC almost two months after the party-led coalition came to power at the Centre after a gap of eight years.
Among the General Secretaries, Margaret Alva has been made in-charge of Mahrashtra which goes to polls this year.
Chaturvedi has been given the charge of Uttar Pradesh replacing Birendra Singh while Harikesh Bahadur, who has been made a permanent invitee to the CWC, has been entrusted Bihar and Jharkhand where the polls are due early next year.
M L Fotedar, Magaret Alva, G Venkatswamy, Janardhan Dwivedi, Digvijay Singh and Satavrata Chaturvedi have been inducted into the CWC. Those dropped from the apex body are Uttaranchal Chief Minister N D Tiwari, Sarojini Pulla Reddy (from Andhra Pradesh) and Nawal Kishore Sharma, who was been appointed the Governor, besides Union Ministers Kamal Nath, Oscar Fernandes, Mahavir Prasad and Meira Kumar.
Gandhi has appointed as many as 25 secretaries to assist the eight General Secretaries and the new entrants included Hema Gamang, Bharat Solanki, Sudhakar Reddy, Randeep Surjewala and Shakeel-uz-Zaman Ansari.
Prominent among the 13 permanent invitees to the CWC are A B A Ghani Khan Chaudhary, Ajit Jogi, Buta Singh, Madhavsinh Solanki, N Janardhana Reddy, Ramesh Chennithala and S M Krishna.
Those figuring among the 12 special invitees to the CWC included Anil Shastri, Jyotiraditya Scinedia, T Subbirami Reddy and Wasim Ahmed.
Former UP Governor Motilal Vora will continue as the AICC treasurer and has been made in-charge of administration as also Uttaranchal.
Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee has been made in-charge of Punjab where the party affairs have become more crucial following Chief Minister Amarinder Singh`s initiative in enacting a controversial act to terminate Punjab`s water sharing agreements with the neighbouring states while keeping the party high command in dark.
Mukherjee also continues to be the president of the West Bengal PCC. Soni, who announced the AICC revamp at a press conference, sidestepped questions whether the Defence Minister would give up West Bengal charge.
Soni announced that all departments and cells of the AICC stand dissolved with immediate effect.
Jayanti Natrajan has been made a spokesperson in addition to Anand Sharma and Abhishek Singhvi.
Bureau Report
