Union Cabinet, Congress rejig after Antony review

Apr 10, 2012 |

New Delhi

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A reshuffle of the Union Cabinet and changes in the Congress organisation are expected after the A. K. Antony review committee submits its report to party president Sonia Gandhi by the end of April.

AICC sources said on Monday some chief ministers might also be replaced. "We don’t know if it will be drastic or cosmetic (change), but it will aim to bring new faces to help face the challenge of 2014," a party official said.

The three-member committee, which includes power minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit, is now meeting party leaders from Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand to ascertain why it faced defeat in the recent state elections, and why it failed to deliver in Uttarakhand. Antony was earlier in charge of a similar exercise after the Congress lost the 1999 Lok Sabha election.

The party fears it is unprepared to face political challenges in several states, including UP, Bihar, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Punjab and Goa. Unease is also growing in Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh, where the Congress had done spectacularly in the last two Lok Sabha elections.

PCC chiefs are likely to be replaced in UP, Bihar, Maharashtra, Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.

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