Weeks after Tripura Congress chief Pradyot Deb Barman quit attacking party veterans, Congress has shunted out AICC General Secretary Luizinho Faleiro as in-charge of the state and appointed Gaurav Gogoi in his place.

The appointment of Gogoi, a two-term Lok Sabha member from Assam, comes at a time when Congress is trying to get a foothold in the state where it has been out of power for the last 26 years.

“Welcome to the jungle, brother,” was how Pradyot greeted Gogoi on his appointment as AICC in-charge of the state before offering to help in private capacity.

Faleiro will continue to be in-charge of six north-eastern states – Manipur, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Mizoram, Arunnachal Pradesh and Nagaland.

Pradyot had quit the party last month following differences with Faleiro over the National Registry of Citizens. He also accused the senior leadership of the Congress of appointing “corrupt and scam tainted” leaders to key positions in the party’s state unit.

Pradyot, a scion of the royal family of Tripura, was considered close to former Congress President Rahul Gandhi.