There were allegations of internal sabotage at the behest of former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.Azad, 67, is a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, and is seen as a Gandhi family loyalist. Nath was a general secretary some 15 years back in charge of key states like Gujarat and West Bengal. Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab are scheduled early next year.So far Madhusudan Mistry was looking after Uttar Pradesh and Shakeel Ahmed was taking care of Punjab and Haryana.Today's appointments are being seen as a precursor to further restructuring of the AICC Secretariat. NEW DELHI: Senior leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Kamal Nath were appointed Congress general secretaries by party chief Sonia Gandhi today, setting in motion the much talked about process of organisational changes ahead of the Assembly elections next year, including in Uttar Pradesh.While Azad, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, has been made in charge of Uttar Pradesh, Nath will look after Punjab and Haryana, party general secretary Janaradan Dwivedi said. 69-year-old Nath is the seniormost MP in the current Lok Sabha having won from his pocket borough of Chhindwara nine times.Azad was earlier twice the AICC general secretary in charge of UP.

Source: Times of India June 12, 2016 11:49 UTC