Jairam Ramesh is Congress' campaign coordinator

Jairam Ramesh [ Images ], who quit as a union minister earlier this week, was on Saturday appointed the Congress' campaign coordinator in the Lok Sabha  elections.

He will be setting up a 'war room' near the All India [ Images ] Congress Committee headquarters to coordinate the movement of Congress leaders on the campaign trail and meet the requirements of candidates.

A close aide of the Gandhi family since the time of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi [ Images ], Jairam is credited with coining the slogan Congress ka haath, aam aadmi ke saath in the 2004 elections, to counter the 'India Shining' slogan of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government.

A Rajya Sabha member from Andhra Pradesh, he is also a member of various AICC committees, including the Future Challenges Group that has general secretary Rahul  Gandhi as a member and the Pranab Mukherjee-led Manifesto Committee.

Known for his dynamism and fast thinking, Jairam was also a key member of the National Advisory Council headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi [ Images ], and he took over its charge after the Office of Profit controversy.