New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday sacked Mohan Prakash as general secretary, replacing him with veteran Mallikarjun Kharge who will look after the key state of Maharashtra.

The Congress needed somebody of stature to deal with the NCP's Sharad Pawar in alliance talks. Besides, complaints accusing Prakash of incompetence had inundated the high command over the past few years.

Kharge's appointment as general secretary, however, came as a surprise as he had a lot on his plate already.

Apart from being the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, he heads the parliamentary accounts committee. But he is a Dalit, too, and his inclusion in the All India Congress Committee secretariat comes at a time the country has begun moving into election mode.

As general secretary, Kharge will now be in the Congress Working Committee as well. Kharge will be assisted by three secretaries: Sonal Patel, Ashish Dua and Sampath Kumar.

Rahul has also appointed Shashi Kant Sharma as joint secretary, and J.D. Seelam and Mahendra Joshi as secretaries attached to Ashok Gehlot, the general secretary in charge of the Congress organisation.

He has also appointed two new secretaries for Andhra Pradesh.

The screening committees that will select candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections have been announced too.

While Madhusudan Mistry heads the screening committee for Madhya Pradesh, Bhubaneswar Kalita, Kumari Selja and V.D. Sathesan will head those for Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Odisha, respectively. Luizinho Faleiro heads the committee for Mizoram.