Amaravati, Aug 6 (IANS) The Congress party has appointed former Union MoS J.D. Seelam and former MLA Mastan Vali as the working presidents of the Andhra Pradesh unit and also announced 25-member Political Affairs Committee.

AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge appointed J.D. Seelam and Mastan Vali as the working presidents of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC).

AICC general secretary K. C. Venugopal announced this on Wednesday.

The AICC president also approved the proposal for the constitution of Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of the APCC.

AICC in-charge for party affairs in Andhra Pradesh, B. Manickam Tagore, has been named as the chairman of the PAC.

APCC president Y. S. Sharmila Reddy, former presidents N. Raghuveera Reddy, Gidugu Rudra Raju, former union ministers M. M. Pallam Raju, J. D. Seelam and Chinta Mohan are among the members of the PAC.

The other PAC members are K. Raju, Mastan Vali, K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao, K. Bapi Raju, G. V. Harsha Kumar, N. Tulasi Reddy, Killi Kuruparani, Lingamsetty Eswara Rao, P. M. Kamalamma, K. Sudhakar, Raketa Eliza Vunnamsetti, Kondeti Chittibabu, Amanchi Krishna Mohan, Surya Naik, Sirivella Prasad, G. Usha Naidu, Ganesh Yadav and Dr Palak Verma.

In September last year, the AICC chief had appointed vice presidents, general secretaries, president of the district/city Congress committees and heads of various cells of the APCC.

The party had named 13 vice-presidents, 37 general secretaries, 25 DCC presidents, and 10 City Congress committee presidents.

Mallikarjun Kharge on January 16, 2024 had appointed Sharmila as APCC president, a few days after she merged the YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) with the Congress party.

Sharmila is the sister of former Andhra Pradesh chief minister and YSR Congress Party president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and daughter of former chief minister late Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, who was popular as YSR.

She led the party in the simultaneous elections to the state Assembly and Lok Sabha held in May, 2024. However, in the third consecutive election, the Congress party drew a blank in both the Assembly and Lok Sabha.

The Congress party was virtually wiped out in 2014 as the party failed to win a single Assembly or Lok Sabha seat due to public anger over bifurcation of the united Andhra Pradesh. The party lost several senior leaders who joined either YSRCP or TDP.

The party failed to open its account in 2019 as well. There were hopes that Sharmila’s appointment as state party chief would change the party’s fortunes in 2024. However, it once again failed to open its account.

–IANS

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