Congress old guard retains control, juniors to work as aides
The party has assigned 20 young leaders as secretaries to assist seniors in managing party affairs in states.
The Congress’ failure to present a “uniform party line” in the public domain on various recent issues prompted Congress president Sonia Gandhi last week to constitute a new, high-powered Communication Strategy Group, comprising the “old guard”, to restructure the party’s media strategy. The move has also given the signal that the “younger force in Congress”, accompanying Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, will not yet be given the front-stage.
While the responsibility to maintain proper communication between the party and the people has been handed over to senior Congress leaders—including leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, P. Chidambaram, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Jairam Ramesh, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sushmita Dev— young Congress leaders are expected to act as aides in a few positions, sources said. The Congress has assigned 20 young leaders as secretaries to assist the seniors in managing party affairs in states. While a big state will have 4-5 secretaries to assist a general secretary or an incharge, at least two young leaders will manage a small state, the sources said.
The need to assign responsibility for a “uniform” media communication strategy to senior leaders was triggered after the party came under fire for its changing stance on recent issues like Balochistan or about Rahul Gandhi’s meeting the Chinese envoy. According to some media reports, Rahul Gandhi had no idea that his party members had denied any such meeting taking place with the Chinese envoy.
The situation brought to light the lack of commu- nication between the high command and the Congress members, leading to different statements in the public domain. Filling the loophole, the new communication group is expected to bring consistency in the media statements of various members on important issues. The group’s leaders will hold daily meetings and also brief the media on current issues. It is expected that a few more people will be added to the group in the coming days.
The Congress is trying to restructure itself and has significantly re-appointed senior leaders in key roles. While some party members say that they are ready for Rahul Gandhi’s elevation as Congress president, dissent in Gujarat state Congress that led to cross-voting in the Presidential elections, gives a different signal. Apart from providing feedback to make basic organisational changes in the aftermath of a string of lost elections in various states, Rahul Gandhi has earned a bad name for his frequent vacations in the last one year.
Unlike its age-old practice of giving multiple charges to a single general secretary, now the party has decided that a general secretary or any functionary in the Congress will no longer hold the charge of multiple states. Instead, the functionary will be given the responsibility of just one state with a strict directive to focus on reviving and strengthening the party in that area. These basic changes in the party’s organisational restructuring process were devised following feedback received by Rahul Gandhi that a general secretary or any other office bearer is unable to concentrate on one state in view of manifold responsibilities. As a result, the Congress has been losing elections in state after state and its rank and cadre have continued to shrink due to exodus to other political parties.
The Grand Alliance in Bihar is on the verge of breaking up, with JDU leaders stating on record that there is no question of compromising on issues of corruption that have come up against Deputy Chief Minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav.
Speaking to The Sunday Guardian, senior JDU leader Neeraj Kumar, who is also an MLC , said that there was no question of the party compromising on corruption. “Whatever I am saying is reflecting what my party is thinking. From the first day, we have stated and proved by our actions that we are not going to tolerate corruption; that was one reason behind the mandate we got in the election. The FIR against Tejashwi Yadav is a personal FIR which is based on evidence, done by the CBI, not by Bihar police. They need to come clean on it for the sake of public perception, but the RJD is dodging it.”
On the question of the JDU taking the support of BJP, if offered, in case the RJD pulls out, Kumar said that the “party will follow the coalition dharma till its last