NEW DELHI: In an attempt to placate Konkan heavyweight Narayan Rane, the Congress on Wednesday appointed him as chairman of the party’s 35-member campaign committee for the state assembly elections.
Former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan will head the 13-member coordination committee with Sharad Ranpise as its convener, while former union minister Sushil Kumar Shinde will head the manifesto committee. Party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said a separate media and publicity committee has been also constituted for the elections.
The Chief Minister and the PCC presidents are members of all four committees, he added. Incidentally, Rane and Chavan are known to be detractors of the Chief Minister. A sulking Rane, who had resigned from the Chavan ministry last month and was made to re-join it, was said to have been promised the post of chairman of the poll committee. He has been given the crucial charge at a time when the morale of the party workers is down in the wake of the Lok Sabha results. Rane had said that he will revive the party. –From Our Bureau
