Chidambaram and Khurshid included as senior spokespersons of Congress

The party Tuesday also appointed 24 "media panelists" to put across its viewpoint on television and other media platforms and 30 panelists who would speak on the national media on issues concerning states.

Apart from Chidambaram and Khurshid, the senior spokespersons include union ministers Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma and former union minister Mukul Wasnik.

The spokespersons include Jyotiraditya Scindia, P.C. Chacko, Raj Babbar, Randeep Surjewala, Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Sandeep Dikshit, Sanjay Jha, Satyavrat Chaturvedi, Shakeel Ahmed, Shaktisinh Gohil and Shobha Ojha, apart from Tharoor and and Singhvi.

While Rita Bahuguna Joshi is a former chief of the Uttar Pradesh unit of Congress, Shobha Ojha is the chief of Mahila Congress.

The list of media panelists includes Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari, Minister of State for Home R.P.N. Singh and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajeev Shukla.

Party sources said those given responsibilities include young MPs and MLAs who have worked with Rahul in his earlier assignments.