A lot many vacancies have opened up in the Congress recently. Most of them are positions of AICC general secretary in-charges. It all started after the Congress party’s loss in the Assam assembly elections, where Bhawar Jitendra Singh, taking moral responsibility, resigned from the role of in-charge.
Apart from that position, many roles were reshuffled by the high command. Two AICC in-charges, Girish Chodankar and B.K. Hariprasad, who were heading Tamil Nadu and Haryana respectively, have been brought back to their home states to run the state units. Chodankar was appointed president of the Goa unit, and Hariprasad of Karnataka. Besides these three, general secretary in-charge of Maharashtra, Ramesh Chennithala, embarked upon a government role as home minister after the Congress decisively won the Kerala assembly elections.
Although the two positions do not clash, Chennithala has, for now, retained both the organisational and government roles. However, insiders suggest that both positions demand significant responsibility, and therefore, Maharashtra may get another general secretary.
Then there are a few general secretaries in charge who, according to party insiders, have been unable to perform in the states entrusted to them. A few states where there appears to be constant friction between the in-charges and state units are Bihar, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, and West Bengal. Senior leaders privy to the party's internal reports suggest that a section may be reshuffled within the organisation since the state cadres do not accept the leadership wholeheartedly.
Then there is Sachin Pilot, around whom there has been considerable buzz that he may be given the role of Rajasthan Congress president to head operations in the state and be relieved of his current AICC general secretary role, creating a near-certain vacancy in the higher ranks of the organisation.
Apart from this, there may also be a focus on state unit presidents who are being considered for elevation to the roles of general secretaries or in-charges, as the party's scouting exercise continues.
A parliamentarian privy to the party's decision-making said, "There are not many choices the high command has, if we see it prima facie, and therefore the leadership needs a lot of thought before assigning people to these roles. There may also be a focus on giving young people leadership positions."
As the party has been fixing the organisation for a while now, it may not have been able to bring about sufficient changes at the top levels of state leadership, such as the state unit presidents and general secretary in-charge roles, which continue to leave a significant section of the rank and file dissatisfied.
"A lot of changes have already happened, and many people have already been appointed to several organisational roles. This time, there is a lot of thought going into the appointments, and one section of the party has been suggesting bringing an accountability factor into the functioning of state leaderships," a senior Congress leader said, adding, "If that gets implemented, there are expectations that a mechanism will be put in place for more effective functioning, which could lead to much better election preparedness."
