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NEW DELHI: Congress on Friday effected a major organisational reshuffle that saw a clear leg-up for Rahul Gandhi’s confidants, including those from the old guard, while laying down a clear roadmap for an AICC session to elect the new party president with the naming of an election authority.
While the dissident letter headlined by leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, that sought an organisational overhaul appears to have borne fruit on the face of it, the real effect of the said ‘tectonic’ event appeared questionable.
The unsaid part of the committee, announced to essentially determine the schedule of an AICC session, is that it could be intended to re-anoint Rahul as party president. Crucially, Azad has been dropped as general secretary in charge of Haryana.
The party formed a committee of leaders to assist the Congress chief as was demanded by the dissidents and decided in the stormy CWC meeting, but it is nothing more than a logistical arrangement designed to steer the organisation towards the AICC session which may be held around January — none that will ensure “collective decision-making” as was the stress of the dissident letter.
Also, the panel comprises veterans A K Antony, Ahmed Patel, Ambika Soni, K C Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala, with the participation of a “letter writer”, Mukul Wasnik, but leaves out the notable members who signed the controversial missive.
The prospects of elections to the CWC — a key demand of the letter — too appeared to have receded with the reconstitution of the top body.
At the same time, a new election authority has been formed which will be headed by Madhusudan Mistry in place of incumbent Wasnik.
What comes out is that an AICC session will be held to elect the party chief, which has been a key demand of the letter.
But seen in conjunction with the leg up for Rahul confidants like Venugopal, Shaktisinh Gohil, Surjewala, Jitendra Singh, Ajay Maken, Rajeev Satav, Manickam Tagore, RPN Singh — who have either secured key assignments as general secretaries or in-charges of states or membership of the CWC or promotion within the CWC — the reshuffle ended up raising the prospect that Rahul may shed his reluctance and take back the reins of the party.
Such a roadmap will also be a setback for the writers of the letter which was widely seen as designed as a sharp criticism of the Gandhi scion and triggered a backlash in the CWC meeting on August 24.
Also, if it is to happen, the pushing down of party leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury from the main CWC body to a ‘permanent invitee’ becomes significant. Some believe if Rahul is back as party chief, he may also become the leader in the lower House in future.
But these seeming setbacks apart, interestingly, letter writers Azad, Anand Sharma and Wasnik have been retained in the main CWC while UP’s Jitin Prasada has been made in-charge of crucial election-bound West Bengal, besides Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Wasnik also stays on as general secretary in charge of MP.
Among major gainers, Surjewala, who is head of the media department, has been made general secretary in charge of Karnataka, while Jitendra Singh has been elevated as general secretary with charge of Assam. Family loyalist Rajeev Shukla has got the charge of Himachal Pradesh. Two young gainers are Tamil Nadu MP Manickam Tagore, who has been made in-charge of Telangana, and Vivek Bansal who has been elevated from secretary to the independent charge of important Haryana.
Former Karnataka state unit chief Dinesh Gundu Rao has been given the charge of Tamil Nadu and Goa. Devendra Yadav has been given charge of Uttarakhand. Bansal and Yadav, secretaries who were removed from Rajasthan on the demand of Sachin Pilot, have been given good portfolios in AICC while general secretary Avinash Pande has found a place in the CWC.
Else, in the big rejig, only veterans Azad, Ambika Soni, Mallikarjun Kharge and Luizinho Faleiro have been dropped as general secretaries, besides state in-charges Anugrah Narayan Singh, Asha Kumari, Gaurav Gogoi and R C Khuntia. Gogoi was recently named the deputy leader in LS.
While the dissident letter headlined by leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, that sought an organisational overhaul appears to have borne fruit on the face of it, the real effect of the said ‘tectonic’ event appeared questionable.
The unsaid part of the committee, announced to essentially determine the schedule of an AICC session, is that it could be intended to re-anoint Rahul as party president. Crucially, Azad has been dropped as general secretary in charge of Haryana.
The party formed a committee of leaders to assist the Congress chief as was demanded by the dissidents and decided in the stormy CWC meeting, but it is nothing more than a logistical arrangement designed to steer the organisation towards the AICC session which may be held around January — none that will ensure “collective decision-making” as was the stress of the dissident letter.
Also, the panel comprises veterans A K Antony, Ahmed Patel, Ambika Soni, K C Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala, with the participation of a “letter writer”, Mukul Wasnik, but leaves out the notable members who signed the controversial missive.
The prospects of elections to the CWC — a key demand of the letter — too appeared to have receded with the reconstitution of the top body.
At the same time, a new election authority has been formed which will be headed by Madhusudan Mistry in place of incumbent Wasnik.
What comes out is that an AICC session will be held to elect the party chief, which has been a key demand of the letter.
But seen in conjunction with the leg up for Rahul confidants like Venugopal, Shaktisinh Gohil, Surjewala, Jitendra Singh, Ajay Maken, Rajeev Satav, Manickam Tagore, RPN Singh — who have either secured key assignments as general secretaries or in-charges of states or membership of the CWC or promotion within the CWC — the reshuffle ended up raising the prospect that Rahul may shed his reluctance and take back the reins of the party.
Such a roadmap will also be a setback for the writers of the letter which was widely seen as designed as a sharp criticism of the Gandhi scion and triggered a backlash in the CWC meeting on August 24.
Also, if it is to happen, the pushing down of party leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury from the main CWC body to a ‘permanent invitee’ becomes significant. Some believe if Rahul is back as party chief, he may also become the leader in the lower House in future.
But these seeming setbacks apart, interestingly, letter writers Azad, Anand Sharma and Wasnik have been retained in the main CWC while UP’s Jitin Prasada has been made in-charge of crucial election-bound West Bengal, besides Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Wasnik also stays on as general secretary in charge of MP.
Among major gainers, Surjewala, who is head of the media department, has been made general secretary in charge of Karnataka, while Jitendra Singh has been elevated as general secretary with charge of Assam. Family loyalist Rajeev Shukla has got the charge of Himachal Pradesh. Two young gainers are Tamil Nadu MP Manickam Tagore, who has been made in-charge of Telangana, and Vivek Bansal who has been elevated from secretary to the independent charge of important Haryana.
Former Karnataka state unit chief Dinesh Gundu Rao has been given the charge of Tamil Nadu and Goa. Devendra Yadav has been given charge of Uttarakhand. Bansal and Yadav, secretaries who were removed from Rajasthan on the demand of Sachin Pilot, have been given good portfolios in AICC while general secretary Avinash Pande has found a place in the CWC.
Else, in the big rejig, only veterans Azad, Ambika Soni, Mallikarjun Kharge and Luizinho Faleiro have been dropped as general secretaries, besides state in-charges Anugrah Narayan Singh, Asha Kumari, Gaurav Gogoi and R C Khuntia. Gogoi was recently named the deputy leader in LS.
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