The Rise & Rise of Gurdeep Sappal from Editor to Member of Congress Working Committee

The Indian National Congress has appointed Gurdeep Sappal, former CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Rajya Sabha TV (RSTV) and the erstwhile founder of the News TV channel Swaraj Express as the newest member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC).

This is a remarkable achievement and a very fast progression for Gurdeep Sappal who has risen from being a Broadcast Leader to being a tall political leader and a member of the CWC in such a short time.

Gurdeep Sappal has been working very closely with the current Congress President Sh Mallikarjun Kharge and assisting him in multiple aspects.

A former OSD to Hamid Ansari, when Sh Hamid Ansari was the Vice-President of India, Sappal formally joined the Congress in 2020.   

In fact, of the four AICC coordinators attached to the office of the Congress President, he is the newest entrant into the party.

Even when he was in RSTV, reports often emerged of him taking up assignments with senior Congress leaders.

Sappal is credited with conceptualizing and establishing Rajya Sabha Television (RSTV). He has also conceptualized and produced a ten-part television series Samvidhaan - The Making of the Constitution of India, which re-enacts the debates of the Constituent Assembly and recreates the drama of the political and parliamentary process of developing the salient features of the Constitution of India. The series was directed by Shyam Benegal. He also conceptualised and produced feature film Raagdesh for RSTV, directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia.

When he quit RSTV in 2017, he went on to launch Swaraj Express, a television channel whose Managing Editor was Amrita Rai, former RSTV anchor and wife of senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh. Soon after officially joining the Congress, Sappal was appointed as a national spokesman, appearing for the party on television channels and debate platforms.

Gurdeep Sappal has gone from curating news to becoming headline news himself.