<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/46444544.cms" /> In January 2013, <keyword id="5268" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rahul-Gandhi">Rahul Gandhi</keyword> had hogged the limelight during ‘Chintan Shivir’ in Jaipur, as many <keyword id="1575" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Congress">Congress</keyword> leaders had then demanded that he should be named as the party’s prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 <keyword id="6355187" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Lok-Sabha">Lok Sabha</keyword> Elections. Rahul is once again at the centre-stage. The news is rife that he may be crowned as the Congress party chief at AICC meet in April and this in reveals an ET report. 
 
As per the business daily, Congress is prepping up to organise an AICC session, on lines of ‘Chintan Shivir’, in between March 28 and April 15 for Rahul Gandhi’s immediate elevation. The party leaders feel that there should be no more delay in this decision. 
 If we believe the report, <keyword id="689" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sonia-Gandhi">Sonia Gandhi</keyword> is likely to be announced as the chairperson of the Congress parliamentary party. This hints at that the party leadership is preparing for generation shift. 
 The much-anticipated rejig in the party took place on Monday, when Ashok Chavan became the new <keyword id="2540" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="President">president</keyword> of Maharashtra, <keyword id="56431" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sanjay-Nirupam">Sanjay Nirupam</keyword> took over as the president of the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee, Ghulam Ahmed Mir replaced <keyword id="346988" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Saifuddin-Soz">Saifuddin Soz</keyword> to take over as <keyword id="145409" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="PCC-chief">PCC chief</keyword> in J&amp;K. Bharatsinh Solanki is now the new PCC chief of Gujarat, <keyword id="50339" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ajay-Maken">Ajay Maken</keyword> has taken over over the reins of Congress party in Delhi, and for Telangana region, Uttam Kumar Reddy is the new PCC chief. According to the Economic Times report, these appointments have Rahul Gandhi’s stamp. 
 
Some of the Congress leaders feel that two power centres is resulting in more confusion in the party. And they believe that an immediate solution may help party draft its future strategy. 
(Image: TOI)

​Rahul Gandhi may take over the reins of Congress in April

New Delhi, Poll strategist <keyword id="4300245" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="sunil-kanugolu" source="Orion">Sunil Kanugolu</keyword> has yet again proven to be the man with the Midas touch, plotting the Congress' amazing turnaround in Telangana months after being the architect of the grand old party's return to power in Karnataka. Starting with Prashant Kishor's I-PAC, Kanugolu was largely credited for shaping the Congress' win in Karnataka and was later accorded Cabinet rank in the Siddaramaiah government. This time, Kanugolu along with PCC chief A Revanth Reddy formed a formidable pair to chalk out the Congress' strategy to pull down the K Chandrashekhar Rao-led BRS government that was eying a third term in the southern state. The Congress was headed for victory in Telangana while it was staring at crushing defeats in the Hindi heartland states of <keyword id="6355554" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="madhya-pradesh" source="Orion">Madhya Pradesh</keyword>, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. Kanugolu had also made forays in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh following a directive from the party's central leadership but regional satraps Ashok Gehlot and Kamal Nath reportedly were not on the same page as the poll strategist. Ahead of the Rajasthan elections, Kanugolu had made an assessment about the winnability of probable candidates but Gehlot reportedly did not agree to his suggestions and brought in Naresh Arora's Designboxed to construct the Congress government's narrative in the run-up to the assembly polls. Sources say that the success of Kanugolu in Karnataka and Telangana was the result of the free hand given to him and allowing his team to work freely. Kanugolu, who hails from Karnataka and is in his early 40s, has been considered largely as the brain behind the Congress' narrative in Karnataka with the 'PayCM' campaign against the BJP. In the run-up to the polls in Telangana, he highlighted the alleged corruption of the K Chandrashekhar Rao dispensation as part of Congress' campaign that seemed to have struck a chord with the people. The campaigns run by the Congress in Karnataka and Telangana have been very similar as both highlighted the alleged graft of the ruling dispensation and projected welfare guarantees that seemed to have struck an instant connection with the public. Interestingly, Kanugolu has also been involved in several BJP poll campaigns in the past. In 2018, he worked with the BJP in Karnataka and the party managed to become the single largest party with 104 seats. He had also worked on Narendra Modi's campaign in 2014, as well as the party's political campaigns in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. Kanugolu, a former consultant with McKinsey, was also associated with DMK chief MK Stalin and oversaw the party's '<keyword id="3576832" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="namakku-naame" source="Orion">Namakku Naame</keyword>' (we are for ourselves) campaign during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In 2021, he also worked with AIADMK against the DMK and led the party to win 75 seats in the Tamil Nadu assembly elections. Kanugolu had joined the Congress last year and worked closely with the Karnataka campaign. He is also credited with strategising <keyword id="5268" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="rahul-gandhi" source="Orion">Rahul Gandhi</keyword>'s cross-country 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' from Kanyakumari to Kashmir last year. Having delivered Karnataka and Telangana to the Congress, Kanugolu is likely to be given more responsibilities by the party in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls.

Sunil Kanugolu: The poll strategist behind Congress' win in Telangana

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/576431a0dd0895b0568b474c-996/screen shot 2016-06-17 at 18.13.25.png" alt="police" data-mce-source="West Yorkshire Police" />West Yorkshire PoliceWest Yorkshire Police Temporary Chief Constable Dee Collins and Mark Burns-Williamson, West Yorkshire's Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC).</div></div></div>West Yorkshire police are working with the North East Counter Terrorism Unit on the murder investigation of Labour MP Jo Cox, who was killed in broad daylight on a street in Birstall on Thursday. The police said that the "suspect's link to mental health services" and <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/jo-cox-killer-and-american-neo-nazi-national-alliance-2016-6">his links to right-wing extremism</a> are priority lines of the inquiry, which will help them establish the motive of the murder. Cox died after being shot and stabbed after she left a meeting with her constituents. Police also said that a 77-year-old man who tried to help Cox when she was being attacked had suffered serious stab wounds to his abdomen but was now in a stable condition in hospital. They also confirmed that a different man, who had previously been questioned by police and received an adult caution in March for malicious communication of a sexual nature, is not the suspect arrested in the murder case. The incident appears to be an isolated one which specifically targeted Cox. West Yorkshire police also said that they thought no one else was involved in the attack but that they will investigate how the suspect got a hold of the illegally owned firearm. Cox was elected as an MP during the 2015 general election and was representing the constituency of Batley and Spen in the west of England. She had two young children, Lejla and Cuillin and was 41 years old.<a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/everything-we-know-about-the-jo-coxs-murder-2016-6">Read all of today's progress in the investigation here</a>.Here is the full updated statement by the West Yorkshire police: West Yorkshire Police Temporary Chief Constable Dee Collins said:"I would like to provide an update in respect of the tragic events of yesterday where our local MP for Batley and Spen, Jo Cox was brutally attacked in Market Street, Birstall."We have now confirmed that just before 1pm yesterday (Thursday 16/06/16) Jo arrived in a vehicle in company with two colleagues outside the Library on Market Street and whilst enroute to the library where she had a scheduled constituency meeting, she was attacked and sustained serious injuries from both a firearm and a knife and despite assistance from passers-by, the ambulance service and police officers who were quickly on the scene, she sadly died of her injuries."During the course of the incident a 77-year-old man bravely intervened to assist Jo and in doing so sustained a serious injury to his abdomen and although now stable he remains in hospital."We have had overwhelming support from the public in respect of this incident which assisted us in quickly locating a suspect who was tackled by unarmed officers and arrested. "A murder investigation is under way by West Yorkshire Police who are working together with the North East Counter Terrorism Unit, who will bring specialist assets in support of the enquiry."We are aware of the speculation within the media in respect of the suspect's link to mental health services and this is a clear line of enquiry which we are pursuing."We are also aware of the inference within the media of the suspect being linked to right wing extremism which is again a priority line of enquiry which will help us establish the motive for the attack on Jo."We are keeping an open mind and I do not wish to add to the speculation as we need to ensure that we conduct a professional investigation and do not compromise the need to bring the person responsible to justice."Based on information available at this time, this appears to be an isolated, but targeted attack upon Jo - there is also no indication at this stage that anyone else was involved in the attack. However we will be investigating how the suspect came to be in possession of an unlawfully held firearm."We are aware of two previous unrelated incidents which culminated in Jo receiving a malicious communication of a sexual nature at her parliamentary office in Westminster. Both incidents were investigated by the Metropolitan Police Service which resulted in an individual receiving an adult caution for one offence which I can confirm is not the same person who we have in custody. The other incident remains un-detected. West Yorkshire Police have not been made aware of any complaints or concerns from Jo Cox."The suspect in custody has been medically examined by two specialist medical practitioners who have determined that he is both fit for detention and fit for interview and detectives will continue to question the suspect during the day."This remains an active investigation, with a number of scenes which are being forensically examined, including the suspect's home address. There are numerous lines of ongoing enquiry. We appreciate this has caused some disruption, which will go on for some time, but I would ask people to bear with us while we carry out this critical work."This has clearly had a huge impact on the community and we are grateful for their support and cooperation and that of our partners at this time."Yesterday and today, officers have been working in and supporting the local community and will continue to do so in order to provide reassurance and maintain public confidence."We have been engaged nationally with the Palace of Westminster and the Home Office to review the security arrangements of MPs generally and we are continuing to provide the appropriate advice and guidance to MPs both locally and nationally and seriously considering any concerns which they may have. However all indications are that this is a single isolated attack on Jo, for reasons that we are still trying to establish."I would like to thank the media for the way in which they have respected the family's wishes for privacy at this tragic and sensitive time and I hope this continues."Finally I would like to reiterate my sincere condolences to Jo's husband Brendan, their young children and their wider family, friends, colleagues and the community in which she served - all of which have been deeply affected by Jo's senseless and tragic death."Mark Burns-Williamson, West Yorkshire's Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), said:"Firstly, I want to restate my deep horror and revulsion at the senseless taking of Jo Cox's life which has devastated her family and friends and her community. My condolences and thoughts continue to be with her family."Being at the church vigil and witnessing the huge impact this tragedy is having on Batley and Spen, and nationally and internationally, demonstrates what a very special person Jo was to so many."At the moment we have an ongoing criminal investigation into the circumstances that led to Jo's untimely death and it is crucially important that we let the police carry on doing their job to ensure justice for Jo's family, her colleagues and the wider community."I would also like to extend my thanks for the brave and quick actions of the officers who apprehended the suspect nearby."It is totally understandable that people will want answers to valid questions around what led to this tragic incident and those answers, I have no doubt, will come in due course, but it is crucially important that we ensure that potential criminal proceedings, charges and due process is not jeopardised in any way."I want to reassure people that I will do everything within my power as Police and Crime Commissioner, with West Yorkshire Police, to ensure the people of Batley and Spen, and communities across West Yorkshire are safe and feel safe at this difficult time."

POLICE: Jo Cox murder suspect's link to right-wing extremist is "a priority line of inquiry"

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59e7f084ddd06301018b541a-2400/ap16188860833146.jpg" border="0" alt="Colombia cocaine production" data-mce-source="AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd" data-mce-caption="In this January 7, 2016, photo, Gonzalo sprinkles cement over mulched coca leaves to prepare them to make coca paste at a small makeshift lab in the mountain region of Antioquia, Colombia. The cement is used as a binding agent on the mulched leaves." />AP Photo/Rodrigo AbdA farmer sprinkles cement, which acts as binding agent, over mulched coca leaves to prepare them to make coca paste at a makeshift lab in Antioquia, Colombia, January 7, 2016.</div></div></div><ul><li>Colombia's rivers are a vital link between drug-producing areas and high-seas trafficking routes.</li><li>The Coast Guard commandant wants to take the fight to those rivers, halting shipments before they hit the sea.</li><li>But efforts to interrupt that flow have been hindered by geography, corruption, and a lack of alternatives for the people who rely on it.</li></ul><hr />After hitting a low point in 2012, cocaine production in Colombia has boomed, with the cultivation of coca, the drug's base ingredient, rising 134% between 2013 and 2016.2016 alone <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/farmers-in-colombia-relying-on-economic-benefits-of-cocaine-production-2018-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">saw a 52% increase</a> in the area under cultivation over the previous year, and the US Drug Enforcement Administration said in its most recent National Drug Threat Assessment, issued in late 2017, "that Colombia's coca cultivation is likely to expand in 2017, partly due to increased coca farmer profits."The surge has made Colombia the world's top producer, churning out more than the second- and third-place countries, Peru and Bolivia, combined. Colombian cocaine also dominates the US market, making up 95% of samples analyzed by the DEA in 2016.More than 90% of that cocaine gets to the US through the Mexico/Central America corridor, with most of it traveling maritime routes to do so. That's where the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/coast-guard-navy-half-ton-cocaine-smuggling-2018-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">US Coast Guard and its partners are confronting the flow</a>, but Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Paul Zukunft wants to take the fight closer to the source.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5ae1e73419ee8652008b4578-2400/4334876.jpg" border="0" alt="US Coast Guard Navy go-fast smuggling boat drug bust fire" data-mce-source="US Customs and Border Protection" data-mce-caption="A suspected smuggling vessel that went ablaze as US Coast Guard and Navy crews approached to intercept it burns in international waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean, April 7, 2018." />US Customs and Border ProtectionA suspected drug-smuggling vessel that caught fire as US Coast Guard and Navy crews approached it in the eastern Pacific Ocean, April 7, 2018.</div></div></div>"We seized over a ton and a half of cocaine 600 miles west of the Galapagos Islands," <a href="https://www.heritage.org/defense/event/americas-coast-guard-national-asset-security-and-prosperity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Zukunft said</a> at the Heritage Foundation on April 12, referring to an incident a few days prior. "Why are we chasing them way out there, over 2,500 miles from where it left?""They're trying to do a flanking movement around us. They're coming out of rivers in Tumaco, Colombia," he added, referring to a region in southwest Colombia with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/amid-a-cocaine-boom-in-colombia-a-deeper-problem-is-emerging-2017-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">some of the country's most intense cultivation</a>. "We need better policing by the Colombians in their riverine systems. [We'd] be happy to help them there. That's where the precursors come up and the finished product goes out."Zukunft, who is retiring in June, made similar comments during a December interview with Business Insider."The cocaine labs are built adjacent to a waterway and then finished product goes out the waterway - many times into the eastern Pacific Ocean - and then we finally chase them down 200 miles later out in the high seas," he said at the time. "If we can shoot the archer, so to say, in these inland waterways, before they shoot their arrows, we can have a significant impact."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59b997f59803c51e008b597b-2106/centam trafficking map.jpg" border="0" alt="Central America drug trafficking map" data-mce-source="Adam Isacson/US Southern Command" data-link="https://adamisacson.com/2016-suspect-trafficking-maps/" /><a href="https://adamisacson.com/2016-suspect-trafficking-maps/">Adam Isacson/US Southern Command</a>Most trafficking routes between Colombia and North America go through the Pacific Ocean - sometimes skirting around the Galapagos Islands.</div></div></div>Colombia, the only South American country with Atlantic and Pacific coasts, has a sprawling river system that is the sole means of access to some areas and provides the best method of transport in many others."When I was assigned to Barranquilla, the Magdalena River - which is the most important waterway for Colombia in terms of commercial shipping and things of that nature - was a principal drug-trafficking area," Mike Vigil, former chief of international operations for the DEA, told Business Insider earlier this year.From Barranquilla's perch on the Caribbean coast, the DEA and Colombian authorities tried to suss out traffickers and their cargos."We were sending informants out there to take photographs and then provide daily reports ... [on] the movement of those ships," Vigil said. "We would pass all of that information ... to the Coast Guard, and we were intercepting probably about five ships a month."The Magdalena and its tributaries connect coca-producing areas in northeast Colombia - areas being contested by <a href="https://www.insightcrime.org/news/brief/colombias-last-guerrillas-escalate-battle-control-cocaine-hub/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">criminal organizations</a> and the country's <a href="https://www.insightcrime.org/news/analysis/new-war-colombias-catatumbo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">remaining rebel groups</a> - with the Caribbean coast, where drugs leave for the US and Europe.Rivers in southern Colombia also link cultivation areas to jumping-off points for traffickers moving drugs across the Pacific to the US or through South America toward Africa and Europe.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5aeb559f19ee861a008b4873-1400/ap110228055817.jpg" border="0" alt="Colombia navy patrol boat river" data-mce-source="AP Photo/Christian Escobar Mora" data-mce-caption="Colombian navy personnel patrol the Micay River after a rebel attack in Lopez de Micay, in Cauca, Colombia, February 28, 2011." />AP Photo/Christian Escobar MoraColombian navy personnel patrol the Micay River in Cauca, Colombia, February 28, 2011.</div></div></div>"Eighty percent of Colombia's coca is grown within ... 2 kilometers of a river," Adam Isacson, director for <keyword id="6354810" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="defense">defense</keyword> oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America, told Business Insider in March, after returning from a month on the ground in Colombia."There's just a hell of a lot of rivers," he said. "That is a reason why the Pacific coast is so heavily used. You can just do everything from the coca to the labs to the jumping-off point along a river, like the Mira or the Naya," he added, referring to two rivers in southwest Colombia."Then in the other direction ... all the rivers flow to the Orinoco and out through Venezuela or down, out to the Amazon in Brazil," Isacson said.Venezuela is believed to be an important air and sea transit point for drugs - movement often facilitated by corrupt officials. Trafficking south to Brazil, Isacson said, is reportedly facilitated by Brazilian criminal groups in Colombia.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5aeb55e119ee8650008b486b-1119/ap16269011787367.jpg" border="0" alt="Colombia navy patrol boat Cartagena" data-mce-source="AP Photo/Fernando Vergara" data-mce-caption="A navy boat patrols in the waters of Cartagena, Colombia, September 24, 2016." />AP Photo/Fernando VergaraA Colombian navy boat patrols around Cartagena, September 24, 2016.</div></div></div>"I've heard that the PCC has a pretty big presence in Guainia, Vaupes, parts of Guaviare, where ... they and the FARC dissidents are really moving the product there for the Brazilian market," he told Business Insider, referring to Brazil's <a href="https://www.insightcrime.org/brazil-organized-crime-news/first-capital-command-pcc-profile/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">First Criminal Command</a> and dissidents from the left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/farc-rebels-trying-to-join-linkedin-post-conflict-violence-in-colombia-2017-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">agreed to demobilize</a> in 2016.Isacson said the US, through <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/plan-colombia-how-washington-learned-to-love-latin-american-intervention-again/2016/09/18/ddaeae1c-3199-4ea3-8d0f-69ee1cbda589_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Plan Colombia</a>, has tried to assist Colombia with drug interdiction on its inland waterways."The United States did help Colombia in the last decade set up a riverine brigade with a lot of these piranha patrol boats that they make themselves. But I don't think that those brigades have grown," Isacson told Business Insider."And I think in some areas - Tumaco's probably one, and the Atrato River in Uraba is probably another - I think they're plagued by corruption."Marine and infantry units miss a lot of the product moving around the rivers, he added, and Colombia's navy, working in maritime areas along the coasts, seizes more. (Colombia has one of the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-navies-in-the-world-2018-4#9-colombia-234-ships-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">largest navies in the world</a>.)"In the rivers and where it's just jumping off," Isacson said, "my strong sense is they're not getting enough, and the corruption is a problem." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/us-coast-guard-bust-1-billion-worth-cocaine-2017-3">Here's what $1 billion worth of cocaine looks like</a></h3> <div> <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/ot6bkK0T-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script> </div> </div>

You Searched For "PCC chief" and got 4 results

Rahul Gandhi may take over the reins of Congress in April

BI India Bureau

Sunil Kanugolu: The poll strategist behind Congress' win in Telangana

PTI

POLICE: Jo Cox murder suspect's link to right-wing extremist is "a priority line of inquiry"

Barbara Tasch

The head of the US Coast Guard wants to cut a vital artery in the heart of the global cocaine trade

Christopher Woody

You Searched For "PCC chief" and got 4 results

​Rahul Gandhi may take over the reins of Congress in April

BI India Bureau

Sunil Kanugolu: The poll strategist behind Congress' win in Telangana

PTI

POLICE: Jo Cox murder suspect's link to right-wing extremist is "a priority line of inquiry"

Barbara Tasch

The head of the US Coast Guard wants to cut a vital artery in the heart of the global cocaine trade

Christopher Woody

Rahul Gandhi may take over the reins of Congress in April