Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi on Thursday appointed new chiefs for the NSUI in Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur and its unit in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi. The National Students Union of India (NSUI) is the student wing of the Congress. Sunny Parihar takes over as the NSUI chief in J&K, while Kabir Ahmed has been appointed in Manipur.

Prashant Kumar will head the NSUI unit in JNU which is considered a Left bastion where the BJP has been trying to make inroads. Former Congress leader Ashok Tanwar earlier headed the JNU unit of the NSUI before being elevated to the Youth Congress chief post and later the Haryana Congress president. He, however, quit the party in 2019. The NSUI has not been able to make a mark in JNU despite being a strong force in Delhi University. In J&K, the Congress has picked Sunny Parihar and the NSUI will have to strengthen itself after the division and downgrading of the state, party sources said.