Old vs new: Congress revamp comes to a halt

Internal changes may be put off till presidential election

July 06, 2017 10:43 pm | Updated December 03, 2021 05:14 pm IST - New Delhi

Rahul Gandhi is the face of the younger generation of Congress functionaries.

Rahul Gandhi is the face of the younger generation of Congress functionaries.

A power struggle between top functionaries who have run the Congress for more than two decades and the younger generation, of whom vice-president Rahul Gandhi is the face, has halted new appointments and the much awaited re-organisation, party sources say.

A series of senior appointments made in April and May this year led people to believe that the organisational changes, pending since mid-2014, were finally taking place. But two months after new functionaries were announced, party sources are saying that there may be no changes — at any rate — till July 17, when the presidential election is scheduled, so as not to upset anyone.

 

On April 26, the former Rajasthan Chief Minister, Ashok Gehlot, became general secretary in charge of Gujarat that goes to the polls later this year. Three days later, Congress deputy whip K.C. Venugopal became general secretary in charge of Karnataka, another election-bound State. On May 4, secretary Avinash Pande was made general secretary for Rajasthan. These announcements were accompanied by a string of secretary-level appointments. In addition, Sunil Jakhar and Pritam Singh were made State chiefs in Punjab and Uttarakhand, while Madhusudan Mistry was dropped as general secretary.

Sign of the future

Mr. Gehlot is an old hand but Mr. Venugopal and Mr. Pande were fresh faces, who replaced veterans Digvijaya Singh and Gurudas Kamat, signalling the creation of a 2019 team ahead of the expected elevation of Mr. Gandhi as president later this year.

But, despite the speculation on changes in Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Odisha, no further appointments have been made. For instance, the nine-time MP and former Union Minister, Kamal Nath, is party president Sonia Gandhi’s choice for the Congress chief in the election-bound Madhya Pradesh, but the chief whip in the Lok Sabha Jyotiraditya Scindia is Mr. Gandhi’s choice, the sources say.

 

Senior leaders close to Ms. Gandhi have reportedly told her that since Madhya Pradesh has too many senior leaders like Digvijaya Singh, all working at cross purposes, it will be easier for Mr. Nath rather than the youthful Mr. Scindia to mediate between them. Mr. Gandhi, on the other hand, feels a fresh face can better take on Shivraj Singh Chauhan.

Similarly, in Himachal Pradesh, the seniors feel that the general secretary in charge of the State, Ambika Soni, will be able to deal better with Chief Minister Veerbhadra Singh, who may not take kindly to a younger person. As the Congress prepares for a slew of elections, Mr. Gandhi is trying to experiment with new faces and to decentralise decision-making. But, with members of the old guard still having Ms. Gandhi’s ear, it will be an uphill task for him to get his way.

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