Loyalty: Sonia Gandhi sets new criteria for Congress reshuffle

New Delhi: As the Congress plans to make major structural changes in the party, chief Sonia Gandhi is likely to make loyalty the main criteria while making the new appointments.

Loyalty clinched the top spot in Sonia's criteria list as in the recent past outsiders superseded the loyalists in the organisational reshuffles or electoral nominations, Hindustan Times reported.

The grand old party also witnessed an infight over the abrogation of Article 370 as a section of its senior leadership supported the Union government while few leaders condemned the move.

On August 10, Sonia Gandhi was back at the helm of the party months after Congress faced a drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls.

The dissenting voices were also coming from within the state party workers of Haryana and Maharashtra, where major reshuffle was done to allay the volatile resigning and hiring.

Assebmly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra are due in October-November.

In Haryana, party named Kumari Selja as the state unit chief, replacing Ashok Tanwar.

The decision came after former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda threatened to quit the party and form his own if Tanwar remains the state president.

To strike a balance, the central leadership named Hooda as the new legislature party leader ahead of the assembly elections.

Similarly, in Maharashtra, after the major debacle in Lok Sabha, Milind Deora, who had resigned as the Mumbai Congress chief after the national elections, was replaced by party veteran Eknath Gaikwad. On Friday night, Milind Deora was removed as the vice-chairman of the All India Professional Congress (AIPC), Hindustan Times reported.

Saman Soz, son of ex-Union minister and former Jammu and Kashmir Congress chief Saifuddin Soz, replaced him.

According to sources, he is likely to handle an important role at the national level in the next party reshuffle.

Leaders had been leaving the Congress across states.

Actor-turned-politician politician Urmila Matondkar and former minister Kripashankar Singh were the latest to quit in the poll-bound Maharashtra.

Two other senior leaders of Congress and former Maharashtra ministers Harshavardhan Patil and Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil have also joined the BJP.

On Thursday, party chief Sonia Gandhi took a dig at these outgoing leaders and said they had have revealed "their opportunistic character".

The party has also been hit with resignations in Goa, Karnataka and Assam.

Congress MLAs and those of Janata Dal-Secular in Karnataka created a political crisis which led to the fall of the coalition government in July this year.

Party's chief whip in Rajya Sabha Bhubaneshwar Kalita, had also joined the BJP after differing with party's stance government decisions concerning Jammu and Kashmir including repeal of Article 370.

Former AICC secretary Tom Vadakkan had left the party ahead of Lok Sabha polls.

After the party faced its second successive Lok Sabha defeat earlier this year, Sonia Gandhi has been taking few decisions to lift the morale of the party cadre.