DK Shivakumar Appointed Karnataka Congress Chief, Anil Chaudhary Made Delhi Unit Head

The Congress on Wednesday appointed senior leader DK Shivakumar as the new chief of party’s Karnataka unit and made former MLA Anil Chaudhary as its Delhi unit president, while also naming five vice-presidents for the DPCC. Congress president Sonia Gandhi named Chaudhary president and Abhishek Dutt, Shivani Chopra, Jaikishan, Mudit Agarwal and Ali Hassan vice-presidents of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC), a party statement said.

Subhash Chopra had resigned as the Delhi Congress chief in February, taking moral responsibility for the party's debacle in the Assembly polls.

INC COMMUNIQUE

Important Notification regarding appointment of PCC President and Vice Presidents for Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee. pic.twitter.com/eEzqqa7Fur

— INC Sandesh (@INCSandesh) March 11, 2020

The Congress drew a blank for the second time in a row in the Delhi Assembly polls and reduced its vote share from 9.7 per cent in 2015 to 4.27 per cent this time.

Shivakumar, known to be the Congress' chief troubleshooter in crisis situations, replaces Dinesh Gundu Rao as the KPCC chief. Eashwar Khandre, Satish Jharkiholi and Saleem Ahammed have been named working presidents of the state unit by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, a party statement said.

Former chief minister Siddaramaiah will continue to be the Chief of Legislative Party and the Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly. While Ajay Singh was appointed as the chief whip in the Karnataka Assembly, M Narayanaswamy will be the party's chief whip in the Legislative Council. Shivakumar spent more than 50 days in Delhi's Tihar Jail between September and October last year after he was arrested in connection with a money-laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).