New Delhi, July 15: The much-awaited organisational reshuffle of the Congress party may take place in the next few days.It could see the exit of Congress ministers like Ghulam Nabi Azad, AK Antony, Prithviraj Chauhan, Veerappa Moily, V Narayanswami and Mukul Wasnik from the organisation.
Most of these leaders were either general secretaries or, as in the case of Veerappa Moily, in charge of states, like Andhra Pradesh, in the run-up to the last Lok Sabha elections.
According to senior party functionaries their places are likely to be filled up by leaders like MPCC chief Suresh Pachouri, Jagdish Tytler and others. Pachouri was made PCC chief of Madhya Pradesh ahead of the state assembly elections last year in which the Congress party was routed. Though it did improve upon its assembly performance in the Lok Sabha, Pachouri has been feeling out place in MP and has made no secret of his desire to move back to national politics after a stint as the head of the Madhya Pradesh unit of the party.
Jagdish Tytler was denied a ticket in the Lok Sabha elections, following an outcry from the Sikh community and the party is now toying with the idea of accommodating him in the organisation. The move to ease out ministers is a part of the leadership’s move to involve newer faces in the decision-making process of the party. Besides, most of the ministers who are likely to be eased out were already looking after more than one state and were unable to give it their undivided attention.
“The idea is to involve people who have the time and energy for party work,” says a senior party functionary. The reshuffle is also expected to see some of the young party leaders being brought into the organisation, in line with Rahul Gandhi’s thinking of reorienting the party by promoting new talent.
The new set off office-bearers will have to hit the ground running as the party prepares to face the assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand later this year. The party’s organisational elections are also scheduled early next year and the new office-bearers will have to buckle down to the task of completing the membership drive and overseeing the election process in their states.
–Agencies