Sachin Pilot was on Saturday appointed general secretary in charge of Chhattisgarh and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra removed from Uttar Pradesh in a shuffle that fell far short of the organisational overhaul many in the Congress were hoping for.

While Pilot’s promotion does signify the induction of fresh talent at the top, the party has relied on old, jaded faces to fight the crucial political battle that looms barely months away, instead of launching the robust new team the party workers would have loved.

Priyanka’s retention as a general secretary without portfolio indicates that the Congress sees her primarily as a campaigner.

The initial reactions from party workers suggested the rejig had deepened the sense of dismay, and Rahul Gandhi’s promise of a drastic restructuring of the organisation is now likely to attract ridicule.

The party’s weakness for political musical chairs and for rewarding incompetence, networking and loyalty appears to have overridden the claims of merit and the need to put its best foot forward.

The key state of Uttar Pradesh has gone to 65-year-old Avinash Pandey whose track record as general secretary has not been very impressive.

Another important state, Gujarat, has been given to Mukul Wasnik who has been an integral part of the high command structure for three decades. What Wasnik, a member of the G23 group of discontents, brings to the table is unclear. His stint as general secretary for Bihar had raised quite a stink in the past.

Inexplicable decisions dominated the shuffle: the 73-year-old Mohan Prakash, sacked as general secretary following an outcry over what many saw as his incompetence, is back as Bihar-in-charge, which marks a demotion in stature.

Dipak Babaria, who had fallen out of favour but returned as general secretary in the last shuffle, has been given charge of Delhi and Haryana.

Deepa Das Munshi from Bengal, a new general secretary, will look after Kerala and Telangana. The veteran Tariq Anwar has been dropped and G.A. Mir from Kashmir brought in as the Muslim face of the high command and given charge of Jharkhand and Bengal.

This is a pointer to how the party has groomed its new-generation Muslim leaders after once boasting stalwarts like Ahmed Patel, Salman Khurshid, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Shakeel Ahmed.

While Randeep Surjewala will continue as general secretary in charge of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh has been assigned to Jitendra Singh in addition to Assam. Kumari Selja has been shifted to Uttarakhand while Jairam Ramesh and K.C. Venugopal will continue to handle communications and organisation.

The dynamic 67-year-old, Ramesh Chennithala, who has been Youth Congress president and a minister in Kerala, has surprisingly been not deemed worthy of a general secretary’s post and given charge of Maharashtra.

Another senior leader and former Union minister, Bharatsinh Solanki from Gujarat, has been given charge of Jammu and Kashmir.

Manickam Tagore has been given Andhra Pradesh while Manikrao Thakre has got Goa, Devender Yadav has Punjab and Ajoy Kumar, Odisha.

Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa continues to be in charge of Rajasthan. Milind Deora and Vijay Inder Singla have been appointed joint treasurers to assist treasurer Ajay Maken.