New Delhi: Congress party removed Avinash Pandey as General Secretary In-charge of Rajasthan on Sunday. It is a sign that the party high command had conceded Sachin Pilot’s demand for Pandey’s removal.

It also seemed to indicate that the party accepted the charge that, Pandey’s proximity to Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot and failed to make him a neutral position in settleling the dispute between the two warring sides. Congress appointed Ajay Meken in the place of Avinash Pandey to oversee and rein in the discontent. Meken had accompanied senior leaders KC Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala to play the role of peacemaker, at the peak of internal feud which had threatened to topple the Ashok Gehlot led Government.

His appointment as Rajasthan’s General Secretary is his first major assignment since being divested of the charge of Delhi Congress Chief. Meken’s appointment as General Secretary In-charge also sets the stage for new committee comprising veterans Ahmed Patel, KC Venugopal and Meken himself to look into Pilot’s concerns and to deliver the smooth resolution of recent issues in Rajasthan. Pandey whose proximity CM Gehlot had come in for criticism by the Sachin Pilot faction, was however, thanked profusely by the Rajasthan party Chief Govind Singh Dotasra, in a tweet on Sunday.

Dotasra thanked Pandey for his three year long tenure and credited him with guiding Congress to victory in Rajasthan, for keeping the Congress flock together and for maintaining an excellent coordination between the Government and party organization.