New Delhi: After the poll debacle in Delhi, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has appointed Randeep Surjewala head of the communications department in place of Ajay Maken.
Maken has been made chief of the party's Delhi unit.
As per a party release, made available on Thursday, Surjewala has been appointed in-charge of communications department till further orders.
Surjewala is also a national spokesperson of the party.
"Consequent upon the appointment of Ajay Maken as President of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee, Sonia Gandhi has appointed Randip Surjewala as in-charge of the communication department till further notification," party general secretary in-charge of Organisation Janardan Dwivedi said.
Notably, the communications department handles the party's interactions with the media.
There are indications that 47-year-old Surjewala may be a stop gap arrangement till a new chairman is finaliced by the party.
The appointment has come days after Congress on Monday appointed five new Pradesh Congress Committee chiefs and one regional Congress Committee president.
Surjewala was picked up by Rahul Gandhi as spokesperson.
The names of a number of senior leaders including Anand Sharma, Digvijay Singh and Jairam Ramesh were doing rounds for the post of AICC Communication Department Chairman ever since Maken was made the party chief for Delhi on Monday.
51-year-old Maken was appointed the chief of the AICC Communication department in June 2013 replacing Dwivedi. Maken was then 49-year-old, the youngest media department chief of the party in recent years.
The post has been held in past by senior leaders like Pranab Mukherjee, Shivraj Patil, Ambika Soni, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Veerappa Moily and Dwivedi.
Surjewala, a former minister in Haryana government, is considered to have good bilingual skills.
(With Agency inputs)
