Rahul Gandhi's new Congress team leads agitation to seek removal of Chief Election Commissioner

New Delhi: A new and aggressive team has emerged within the Congress under Rahul Gandhi's leadership. This team is at the forefront of the agitation of the past few days demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. From Parliament to the streets and police stations, it has stood shoulder to shoulder with Rahul Gandhi. The most prominent name in this new team is that of general secretary (organisation) K. C. Venugopal.

Venugopal is the strategist of the entire agitation. He oversees the full planning, from the lunch meeting to the march to Rajghat, and also decides the direction of the day-to-day agitation. After him, Rajya Sabha member and chairman of the Congress's minority affairs committee Imran Pratapgarhi has become the voice of the agitation. He is the first to reach the protest site every day, fires up the workers and takes charge of the stage.

On the media and narrative front, party communications chief Pawan Khera and senior leaders Jairam Ramesh, Manickam Tagore, Rajeev Shukla and Deepender Hooda are leading. From responding to police FIRs and BJP allegations to press conferences and television debates, these leaders are continuously presenting the party's position and putting the government on the defensive.

Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Devender Yadav has also played an important role in Rahul Gandhi's agitation. His team is credited with the gathering of thousands of people at Connaught Place and Rajghat. Among young people and women, Solapur MP Praniti Shinde has emerged as the new face of the agitation. Her speech in Parliament on the issue of vote theft and her presence on the streets with women workers have had a big impact on young people, earning her considerable popularity.

The emergence of Rahul Gandhi's new team is also linked to a larger political shift. Many senior Congress leaders who could not adjust to Rahul Gandhi's aggressive and ideological politics have now distanced themselves from the party. Foremost among them is Ghulam Nabi Azad, once close to Sonia Gandhi, who left the party after the G-23. Similarly, Jitin Prasada, RPN Singh and, most importantly, Jyotiraditya Scindia, now in the BJP, were uneasy with Rahul's "fight on the streets" model.

The new core team also includes several faces who are less visible before the camera but more active behind the scenes. These include the media team. People such as Vineet Punia, Sanjeev Singh, Manoj Tyagi, Supriya Bhardwaj, Pramod Rawat, Prakhar Singh, Arun Tripathi, Nitin Saraswat, Vivek Singh, Girish Kumar and Rachna Kapoor are working to sharpen the agitation.