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Party weighs leadership changes ahead of crucial state electoral battles
With assembly elections slated to happen in states of Gujarat, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and other states, the Congress is mulling the idea of carrying a massive organisational reshuffling in several states, party sources said.
Sources said that with elevation of D.K. Shivakumar as Karnataka Chief Minister and B.K. Hariprasad succeeding him as State Congress chief, there are several states where the reshuffling and fresh appointments have to be made.
A party leader pointed out that Ramesh Chennithala, who became a minister in the V.D. Satheesan-led government in Kerala, has been holding the position of Maharashtra in-charge and thus for that position the discussions are underway in the party.
Similarly, he pointed out that even Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in-charge Girish Chodankar has been appointed as Goa state unit chief, while continuing to hold the post of in-charge for the southern states. Hariprasad being appointed as Karnataka Congress chief has also brought the focus on the Haryana in-charge post, which he currently holds.
Party insiders said that the Congress leadership is preparing to change several state in-charges and state presidents in more than half a dozen states.
Even Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi had held a meeting with Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and General Secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal to discuss the changes. The insider said that as Kharge’s tenure as party chief is going to end in October next year, this will be the last major organisational reshuffling under his leadership.
The party insider said that the grand old party has been focusing mainly on the states where the Assembly elections are due next year.
The elections in the states of Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Manipur and Himachal Pradesh are scheduled. The insider said that except in Punjab, where the contest is a multi-party contest, in other states it will have a direct contest with the BJP. Sources indicated that Congress is looking to give a Hindu face as the new party president in the form of Vijay Inder Singla, with many also lobbying for former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi.
Meanwhile, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, who is currently the in-charge of Rajasthan, can also be brought back to the state as Assembly polls are due there.
Similarly, the party source said that in Uttar Pradesh, where the party has an alliance with the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party, it has Avinash Pandey as state in-charge, Ajay Rai as state chief and Aradhana Mishra Mona as CLP leader, all from upper-caste backgrounds. Thus, a discussion is going on to have a Dalit face for the in-charge post, the source said.
However, a party leader pointed out that in Bihar a similar exercise to appoint Rajesh Ram as state unit chief had failed in the Assembly polls last year.
The party source also said that in the state of Himachal Pradesh, the party is considering changing the in-charge Rajani Patil ahead of the polls late next year.
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