Mumbai, January 23: Ahead of the crucial Lok Sabha and assembly elections in Maharashtra, the Congress on Wednesday approved a string of appointments to top posts within the party's state unit. As per the order issued by Congress president Rahul Gandhi, former chief minister Ashok Chavan would be taking over as the election committee chairman.

Mallikarjun Kharge, who is serving as the party's poll in-charge in Maharashtra, has been appointed as the head of the coordination committee. Former union minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has been assigned as the chief of the campaign committee. Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2019 to be Held Simultaneously With Lok Sabha Polls in April?

The party has also assigned a key role to senior leader and last chief minister of the state, Prithviraj Chauhan, who would be steering the Congress' manifesto committee in Maharashtra.

Other prominent leaders of the Congress state unit will also be included in the coordination committee, the party said in a statement.

Veteran journalist and Rajya Sabha MP Kumar Ketkar has been appointed by Rahul Gandhi as the the chairman of the media and communication committee, the press release further said, further adding that Congress leader Ratnakar Mahajan will be heading the publicity and publication committee.

Maharashtra, which sends 48 MPs to the Lok Sabha, will also be moving into the assembly elections this year. While the tenure of the 289-member assembly is scheduled to conclude in October-November, speculations are rife that the Devendra Fadnavis government may prepone the elections and hold it simultaneously along with the parliamentary polls.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 24, 2019 12:02 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).