The Congress has carried out a major organisational reshuffle ahead of key Assembly elections, appointing Sukhdeo Bhagat as the party's new general secretary in charge of Chhattisgarh. The move comes with significant changes in Punjab, where Sachin Pilot has replaced Bhupesh Baghel as the AICC general secretary in charge, while Baghel has been shifted to Assam.

The changes were announced by AICC General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal on Saturday and took effect immediately. The reshuffle comes at a politically important time for the Congress, particularly in Punjab, where the party has been dealing with internal differences ahead of the 2027 Assembly election. 

Sukhdeo Bhagat takes charge in Chhattisgarh

Bhagat's appointment brings a new central leadership face to the Congress organisation in Chhattisgarh. He replaces Sachin Pilot, who had been handling the state before being moved to Punjab.

Bhagat is a Congress Lok Sabha MP from Lohardaga, Jharkhand. His political career includes a stint as Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee president and several terms in the state Assembly. He had also briefly joined the BJP before returning to the Congress.

His appointment comes as the Chhattisgarh Congress seeks to strengthen its organisation and improve coordination between its state leadership, senior leaders and grassroots workers.

The immediate focus for Bhagat is likely to include assessing the organisation at the district and booth levels and coordinating the party's political preparations in the state.

Pilot gets Punjab responsibility

Sachin Pilot has now been given charge of Punjab, replacing Bhupesh Baghel.

The decision assumes significance because Punjab Congress has been facing internal differences over the party's organisational leadership. The dispute intensified after the Congress retained Amrinder Singh Raja Warring as Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president, while former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi was given the role of campaign committee chairman.

According to recent reports, leaders associated with the Channi camp had questioned the continuation of the existing leadership arrangement and pressed the high command for changes. Rival slogans and disruptions at party programmes had also exposed the divisions within the state unit. 

Bhupesh Baghel shifted to Assam

Baghel, who had been responsible for Punjab since February 2025, has now been appointed AICC general secretary in charge of Assam.

The official Congress announcement confirms the reassignment. The party's current list of general secretaries also shows Baghel as the in-charge of Assam. 

The move comes after a period in which Baghel was tasked with bringing together competing factions in Punjab. Reports have linked his replacement to the continuing organisational dispute, although the Congress has not officially described the change as a response to pressure from any particular faction.

Punjab factionalism behind the reshuffle

The leadership change follows weeks of open disagreement within the Punjab Congress.

The dispute became increasingly visible during the party's organisational campaign in July and August, when rival groups reportedly raised slogans and protested against the existing leadership. The issue was also discussed during meetings between the Congress high command and Punjab leaders in Delhi.

India Today reported that leaders from the Channi camp had pressed for changes after Warring was retained as state Congress president. The leadership subsequently brought Pilot into the state ahead of the 2027 Assembly election. 

The Congress now faces the task of rebuilding coordination between the rival camps while preparing for the election.

Pilot faces immediate organisational challenge

Pilot's first major challenge will be to manage the competing political interests within the Punjab unit and establish greater coordination among senior leaders.

The Congress's 2022 Punjab Assembly election defeat remains an important backdrop to the current organisational exercise. With the next election approaching, the party will also have to address candidate selection, campaign coordination and grassroots mobilisation.

The reshuffle therefore represents more than a routine change of state in-charges. For the Congress, Punjab is a politically sensitive state where organisational unity could directly affect its electoral prospects.

What the change means for Chhattisgarh

For Chhattisgarh, the appointment of Bhagat marks a change in the party's central leadership at a time when the state unit is looking to strengthen its organisation.

Bhagat will have to work with the existing state leadership while assessing internal coordination and the party's ground-level preparedness. His experience in Jharkhand politics and within the Congress organisation could become important as the party seeks to consolidate its base.

The reshuffle also signals that the Congress high command is relying on changes in state-level leadership to prepare its organisation for upcoming electoral challenges.

Along with the Chhattisgarh, Punjab and Assam changes, the Congress appointed Randeep Singh Surjewala as Gujarat in-charge, while he will continue handling Karnataka. Dr Sirivella Prasad has been assigned Maharashtra and P V Mohan Andhra Pradesh. 

The immediate test for the new appointments will be whether the reshuffle can translate into stronger organisational coordination and a more unified election strategy on the ground.

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi made a one-day visit to Chhattisgarh on Sunday, stopping at Abhanpur near Raipur to address the Congress party's ongoing ten-day residential training camp for newly appointed district and city unit presidents. The visit lasted around four hours before Gandhi left for the airport — but not before pulling over at a roadside tea stall, where he had chai and fed biscuits to PCC chief Deepak Baij.

The camp, being held at Ashutosh-Alka Agarwal Mangal Bhavan in Abhanpur's Chandi Mor area, is part of the party's Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan — a ground-up organisational exercise ahead of future elections. Gandhi addressed district and city Congress presidents in a special session, focusing on booth-level strengthening, anti-BJP political narrative, and electoral strategy. Before that, he met senior leaders and former ministers for about 40 minutes, followed by a separate meeting with a delegation of around 70 people including former MLAs and MPs.

Sachin Patel, Bhupesh Baghel, TS Singh Deo, and Charandas Mahant were among the senior leaders present. The camp itself covers a range of sessions beyond political speeches — participants are being trained in yoga, martial arts, personality development, media handling, public outreach, and booth management. Leaders have also been assigned to stay in villages, understand ground-level conditions under MGNREGA, and engage with communities on issues like drug abuse.

The day, however, had its share of embarrassing moments for the party. State Leader of Opposition Charandas Mahant was caught in the crowd crush at the venue gate and reportedly could not get inside — a video of the incident circulated widely. A party worker from Jaijapur in Sakti district had ridden a motorbike all the way to meet Gandhi, having earlier made a failed attempt to meet him in Delhi the same way.

There was also quiet resentment over the welcome posters. Three state Congress co-in-charges — Sajrita Letfhlang, Sampat Kumar, and Vijay Jangid — objected to their photos being missing from the posters while other leaders' pictures featured prominently. The matter, according to sources, has been flagged to the party high command.

BJP hit back swiftly. MLA Purandar Mishra questioned what Gandhi had come to teach Congress workers, sarcastically asking whether it was a training in corruption or recycled political gimmicks. He also took a dig over Lord Ram, noting the irony of Gandhi visiting Chhattisgarh — described as Ram's maternal home — given the Congress's past statements on the issue. Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, attending a Yoga Day event in Ambikapur, remarked drily that people know what happens wherever Rahul goes.

Congress fired back just as quickly. Former MLA Vikas Upadhyay called Mishra an "accidental MLA" making unnecessary statements to stay relevant, adding that if BJP could not treat his apparent ment+al distress, Congress would be willing to step in.

The training camp has Patel scheduled to address participants in upcoming sessions as well, with the party positioning the exercise as its most serious attempt yet to strengthen the organisation at the grassroots before the next round of state and national elections.

Ahead of Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s single-day visit to Chhattisgarh, a fierce war of words has broken out between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress. Gandhi is scheduled to spend around four hours at a 10-day residential party training camp in Abhanpur, Raipur district, where he will interact directly with district and city chiefs to chalk out the party's upcoming political strategy.

According to the official itinerary, the Congress leader will land at Raipur airport at 2:00 PM and fly back to Delhi at 6:00 PM. However, hours before his arrival, political temperatures in the state soared over sharp rhetorical broadsides from both camps.

'Will He Teach How to Extract Gold from Potatoes?'

Taking a dig at the visit, BJP MLA from Raipur, Purandar Mishra, questioned the true motive behind the training session. "He is welcome to Chhattisgarh, the birthplace of Lord Ram's mother, Kaushalya. But let’s not forget this is the same Lord Ram whose very existence Rahul Gandhi and his party once questioned," Mishra said.

The BJP legislator further questioned what exactly Gandhi intended to teach the cadre. "What is he here to train Congress workers in? Is it a refresher course on corruption, or is he going to teach them his old formula of extracting gold from potatoes?" Mishra quipped, referring to a heavily circulated, clipped video of the Congress leader from years ago.

Adding weight to the BJP's offensive, Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, who was in Ambikapur for an International Yoga Day event, also took a swipe at the leader of the opposition. "Wherever Rahul Gandhi goes, everyone knows what eventually happens to the party's fortunes there," Sai told reporters.

'Mishra is Mentally Unsound, Congress Will Pay for His Treatment'

The Congress hit back aggressively at the BJP’s barbs, launching a direct personal attack on the BJP MLA. Former Congress MLA Vikas Upadhyay claimed that Mishra had lost his mental balance and required immediate medical attention.

"Purandar Mishra has become mentally unstable and needs urgent treatment. If the BJP cannot afford his medical care, the Congress is more than willing to step in and fund his treatment," Upadhyay said.

Labeling Mishra an "accidental MLA," Upadhyay alleged that the BJP leader was making outrageous statements simply to elevate his political stature and hog airtime in the regional media.

Behind Closed Doors: Rebuilding the Cadre

Amid the high-decibel political bickering, the 10-day 'Sangathan Srijan' (Organization Creation) residential camp, which commenced on Friday at a private venue near Abhanpur's Chandi Mode, marks a significant organizational push for the Congress. State party in-charge Sachin Pilot, who reached Raipur earlier to oversee the preparations, stated that similar grassroots exercises are being rolled out across multiple states to counter a "highly arrogant" BJP government.

"This training program goes beyond standard political speeches. The newly appointed district and city presidents have been assigned fieldwork, including staying overnight in villages, analyzing the implementation of MNREGA, and studying local socio-economic issues like substance abuse." — Congress Party Source

The camp's daily routine begins with yoga and martial arts sessions, followed by specialized workshops conducted by political experts. These sessions focus on data management, booth-level coordination, media handling, and constructing a counter-narrative against the BJP. Rahul Gandhi’s closed-door session this afternoon is expected to deliver the final tactical blueprint to the state leadership ahead of upcoming local body and institutional elections.

Party leaders submit application against cancellation of Meenakshi Natarajan's Rajya Sabha bid, vow to move Supreme Court

In a dramatic late-night protest, senior Congress leaders led by former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel sat on a dharna outside the Election Commission office in Delhi on Tuesday, protesting the rejection of party candidate Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections from Madhya Pradesh.

The protest, which stretched past midnight, saw the presence of prominent faces including Sachin Pilot, K C Venugopal, and Jairam Ramesh.

Late-Night Protest Outside EC

Baghel and other leaders arrived at the commission's office around evening hours, only to find the premises closed. Unwilling to wait until morning, they chose to stage a sit-in demonstration.

"Returning officer in Madhya Pradesh had given a hearing time of 5:30 PM. At that very time, the office shut down. Where do we submit our application against the decision to reject Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination?" Baghel said from the protest site.

He added that an office clerk eventually accepted their application after they sat on dharna. "Only after we submit our formal application will the path open to approach the court," the Congress leader explained.

What Sparked the Row

The Madhya Pradesh returning officer Arvind Sharma on Tuesday rejected Natarajan's nomination papers following objections raised by the BJP. According to political observers, with this rejection, all three Rajya Sabha seats from the state now have BJP candidates heading for unopposed election.

The BJP had alleged that Natarajan suppressed information about a pending case in a Hyderabad court while filing her nomination papers. The returning officer issued a show-cause notice, seeking a response by 5:30 PM Tuesday. Not satisfied with the Congress candidate's reply, the officer proceeded to cancel the nomination.

 Congress Alleges Conspiracy

Party leaders have accused the Election Commission of functioning under pressure from the ruling BJP. "The nomination cancellation is wrong and amounts to a political conspiracy," Baghel asserted.

Congress sources indicated that the party is preparing to challenge the decision in the Supreme Court. Their argument rests on the nature of the pending matter – party leaders claim it is not even a criminal case where the court has taken cognizance.

Three BJP Candidates Now in Fray

The election for three Rajya Sabha seats from Madhya Pradesh is scheduled for June 18. Initially, four candidates were in the running – three from the BJP and Natarajan from Congress. With her nomination struck down, only three candidates remain in the contest, all belonging to the BJP.

Ahead of the polls, the Congress had already shifted nearly 48 of its party MLAs to Bengaluru in an apparent bid to prevent poaching attempts.

Party leaders say they will continue pressing the Election Commission and are exploring all legal options available. The coming days will determine whether the matter reaches the Supreme Court and if the Congress nominee can secure any relief before the June 18 polling date.