The membership drive for the Congress’s organisational elections has come to an end and the race for party posts has begun. The spotlight is on election-going States. After recent announcements for Gujarat (which goes to polls later this year), Karnataka and Rajasthan (elections in 2018), the names expected soon should be for Himachal Pradesh (elections at the end of 2017) and Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh (elections slated for end-2018).
Frontrunners
The frontrunner for the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) chief, party sources said, is nine-time MP Kamal Nath, who has been both the party’s general secretary and a cabinet minister at the Centre.
His closest contender is four-time MP Jyotiraditya Scindia, who has been a Central minister and is currently chief whip of his party in the Lok Sabha.
But it is felt in the party that as Madhya Pradesh abounds with fractious leaders, Mr. Nath will be better placed to bring the warring heads together. In that case, Mr. Scindia may become deputy leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, replacing Captain Amarinder Singh, who is now chief minister of Punjab.
In Himachal Pradesh, the top contender for in-charge of the State could well be party MP Deepender Hooda, son of former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
Mr. Deepender Hooda was recently divested of the charge of heading the social media cell of the party — it has now been given to a former MP from Mandya in Karnataka, actress Ramya.
With elections due in Karnataka, party sources said that a need was felt to project the strengths of the State: Ms. Ramya is also from the Vokkaliga community, thus filling another slot, too. In Chattisgarh, incumbent Bhupesh Baghel may survive.
Apart from election-going States, the hunt is on for people to fill posts in Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha. In Bihar, after the 2015 polls, State chief Ashok Chaudhury became a minister, but his post was not filled. Now the two top names for the job are those of former Central minister Shakeel Ahmed and Akhilesh Singh. Mr. Ahmed is not too keen on the post, it is learnt. For Jharkhand, former Union Minister Subodh Kant Sahay, former Jharkhand Speaker, former State Minister and currently Rajya Sabha MP Pradeep Balmuchu, and former IPS officer and ex-Lok Sabha MP Ajoy Kumar are in the reckoning for State chief. There are four names doing the rounds for the Odisha State chief are Pradeep Majhi, Niranjan Patnaik, Sharat Raut and Srikant Jena.
From the list of recent names announced and the ones on the anvil, it would appear Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who is taking the decisions on organisational matters, is still being cautious, mixing old faces with new.
