Delhi Congress working president Rajesh Lilothia, along with the 14 district observers, held a meeting with the 280 newly appointed block observers here on Saturday.
The block observers who would suggest the names of the new Block Congress Committee presidents, have to submit their reports through the district observers to Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit within 10 days, the party said.
Mr. Lilothia in the meeting at the Delhi Congress office here, gave the block observers directions on how to go about their responsibility in shortlisting the names of the new Block Congress Committee presidents.
The meeting was presided over by Mr. Lilothia and conducted by A.K.Walia, chairman of the fact-finding committee. “The 280 block observers have been asked to submit their reports through the district observers to DPCC president Sheila Dikshit within 10 days. The new block observers expressed their gratitude to Ms. Dikshit for entrusting them with such an important responsibility,” the statement read.
The 14 district observers present at the meeting, according to the statement, were former Delhi Ministers Dr A.K.Walia, Mangat Ram Singhal, Ramakant Goswami, Professor Kiran Walia, Narendra Nath, Mateen Ahmed, Hassan Ahmed, Jitender Kumar Kochar (Jitu), Rohit Manchanda, C.P.Mittal, Rajender Sharma, Subhash Bhardwaj, Charanjeet Rai and Desh Raj Choudhary.
According to the statement, Ms. Dikshit, acting upon the recommendations of the five-member committee appointed by her to go into the reasons for the defeat of the seven Congress candidates in the recent Lok Sabha election in Delhi, had dissolved all the 280 Block Congress Committees, for appointing fresh faces as BCC presidents. But, the statement said further, some of the old BCC presidents may be considered for reappointment “if their works have been found to be satisfactory”.
Meanwhile, AICC in-charge for Delhi P.C. Chacko and three working presidents of the party wrote letters to Ms. Dikshit, objecting to the announcement of district and block-level observers.
Mr. Chacko said Ms. Dikshit’s decision to dissolve the 280 block committees was already “stayed” by him so appointment of block observers was not only “unauthorised” but would create “differences and conflict”. Ms. Dikshit on Friday had announced names of district and block-level observers to strengthen the party organisation in view of the Assembly elections due early next year.
“The 280 block observers were advised to interact with former MPs, MLAs, past and present municipal councillors, senior leaders and grass-root level workers to get their views before suggesting the names of the new Block Congress Committee presidents,” the statement read.
It added that the observers were told that the main aim would be to strengthen the party at the grass-root level, particularly at the booth-levels, in a bid to face the upcoming Assembly elections in Delhi with “total preparedness”.
