By Express News Service
NEW DELHI: Recently elected Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh was on Thursday appointed Congress general secretary incharge of communication, publicity and media. He replaced Randeep Singh Surjewala, a leader from Haryana, who held the position for years.
A party statement said Surjewala “has been thankfully relieved from his current responsibility as General Secretary Incharge, Communication (sic).” But he will continue to be the general secretary incharge of Karnataka, it added. Party leaders described the appointment of Jairam, a former Union minister, as a pleasant surprise.
“This change may be attributed to brainstorming held in Udaipur last month. Surjewalaji had been in-charge for a long time, hence this was bound to happen. Deliberation about overhauling of the media and communication department was on for about six months. I believe the top leadership was waiting for the right time and right face to take a decision.
His (Jairam’s) experience will certainly help the party,” said a leader. In the changing environment, the jurisdiction, scope and structure of the media and communication department of the Congress should be expanded and made more effective with the help of subject-matter experts, and by connecting media, social media, data, research, etc., to the communication department, the party had said in its Udaipur Nav Sankalp Declaration.
Another leader said the decision to replace Surjewala is in line with the rule of ‘one person, one post’ announced by the party recently. “Rameshji is an appropriate choice as he will cater to the party’s needs in north and south (India). Sooner or later, more organisational changes will take place.”
