Nourishing Rahul’s Pet Project: Cong Picks New Helmsman For AIPC

In a significant move, the Congress leadership has appointed Madhu Goud Yaskhi —a close aide of Rahul Gandhi and prominent OBC leader from Telangana—to head the All India Professionals’ Congress (AIPC).A former two-term Lok Sabha MP, Yaskhi replaced Praveen Chakravarty who has been leading the body since November 2023. Like Yaskhi , Chakravarti too was close to Rahul but he was too engrossed in much political work and delicate political messaging, handling tricky alliance issues for the party in Tamil Nadu. Chakravarty was among the Congress leaders who had explored a possible alliance with actor-turned-politician Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) ahead of the Tamil Nadu elections. He had met Vijay before the polls to explore the possibility of a tie-up, though the Congress remained with its long-standing ally DMK, only to finally dump them and join hands with the TVK. That is why perhaps he was eased out of the AIPC charge within months of getting elected to the Rajya Sabha from TN. Party sources pointed out that AIPC, a very “dear project of Rahul Gandhi” was founded in 2017 to reach out to working professionals. Shashi Tharoor had first headed AIPC. He moved out after he had challenged Kharge in the Congress presidential election in 2022. With Yaskhi ’s appointment, the party hopes to connect with the salaried class. Yaskhi ‘s appointment brought a lot of cheer in Telangana considering he had chaired the Telangana Congress Campaign Committee. Telangana CM Revanth Reddy significantly took to X to congratulate Yaskhi and also organised a felicitation for him in the state assembly. On his part, Yaskhi resolved to strengthen “the Congress Party from the state level to the national level and to make Rahul Gandhi Garu the Prime Minister of India,” Yaskhi wrote on his X.