Gandhi to rely on a mix of young and old

Rahul ji has been the darling of the Congress... Sonia Gandhi has served the party and, through the Congress, the country for the last 19 years... Rahul will carry on the tradition. MANMOHAN SINGH, former prime minister THE 47YEAROLD RAHUL GANDHI HAS BEEN VIRTUALLY RUNNING THE PARTY FOR MORE THAN TWO YEARS NOW WITH SONIA TAKING A BACK STEP

NEWDELHI: Rahul Gandhi’s immediate task after taking over the reins of the party from his mother Sonia Gandhi will be to carry out an organisational reshuffle and reconstitute the powerful Congress Working Committee (CWC).

The message coming out of his ongoing reshuffle seems to be clear – there will be no blood bath and that the new -look Congress will continue to have a mix of young and the old. The 47-yearold Rahul has been virtually running the party for more than two years now with Sonia taking a back step. The changes so far suggest that he will not shy away from fixing responsibilities. For example, outspoken general secretary Digvijaya Singh who has been cut to size.

Not only has Singh been divested of the charge of Goa and Telangana but also of the important state of Karnataka which goes to polls early next year.

Karnataka is the only big state after Punjab where the Congress is in power and fancies its chances given that the BJP is a divided house with a section led by backward caste leader KS Easwarappa up in arms against its chief BS Yeddyurappa who belongs to the powerful Lingayat community.

Singh, however, continues to hold the charge of Andhra Pra- desh where the Congress has been reduced to political margins due to its move to bifurcate the state. Other poor performers such as Mohan Prakash, Ambika Soni, BK Hariprasad too have been punished with less harsh measures. They continue to be the general secretaries.

A general secretary is a top ranking functionary in the Congress hierarchy and coordinates between a state unit and the party high command.

WHO’S IN?

Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, ex-union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Lok Sabha MP KC Venugopal, Rahul Gandhi’s confidante Deepak Babaria and former Rajya Sabha member Avinash Pande have all been made general secretaries.

While Gehlot manages the party affairs in poll-bound Guj- arat, Shinde looked after another Himachal Pradesh, another pollbound state. Babaria has been given the charge of Madhya Pradesh and Pande will take care of Rajasthan. Similarly, ex-mps RC Khuntia, PL Punia and RPN Singh have been elevated and appointed as in-charge of Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand respectively.

An in-charge is a post created to accommodate a middle rung leader without the designation of a general secretary.

The fresh changes are part of a new strategy aimed at adapting to the changing times. It lays down a strict condition that a Congress functionary will hold the charge of only one state.

With this, the party has shunned its decades-old practice of indiscriminately handing charge over multiple states to general secretaries or any other leader of a similar stature.

As @Officeofrg files his nomination to take over the Grand Old Party of India, I wish him all the very best going ahead. Expectations are high... & I pray for his success. The affection that Rahul Gandhi is getting in Gujarat is worth seeing. The PM is making comments about Congress organisational polls out of frustration. ASHOK GEHLOT, Congress leader He has become matured, showed his character. The general is standing at the forefront alone and on the other hand there is this entire government. NAVJOT SINGH SIDHU, Punjab minister