Avinash Pande out, Ajay Maken in as Rajasthan in-charge

New Delhi, Aug 16: The Congress on Sunday appointed senior party leader Ajay Maken as the new general secretary in-charge for Rajasthan, replacing Avinash Pande.

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi also set up a three-member committee to resolve the issues raised by party rebels in Rajasthan.

Senior party leader Ahmed Patel, Ajay Maken and general secretary organisation KC Venugopal have been made members of the panel.

The appointments come in the wake of a rebellion in the Rajasthan government with former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and 18 other MLAs revolting against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

Though the rebellion was quelled and a truce reached with Pilot and the other MLAs, the party leadership has announced the three-member panel to help in the smooth resolution of the issues raised by them.

Maken was recently sent as observer by the party to Rajasthan to help resolve the differences and save the government from the possibility of losing its majority in the state assembly. He was earlier the Delhi Congress chief.