New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi will directly hear the Congress ground reality from over 750 district unit chiefs across the country on March 27, 28 and April 3 respectively and use the feedback to revive the grand old party nationally.
Ahead of the interactions, to be held in batches of around 250 each, the various state units are actively filling up the vacant posts at the district level.
During the three-day interactions, the former Congress chief will obtain key feedback from the local team heads and assure them of their renewed importance in the grand old party which is keen to revive itself across big states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Gujarat.
In Uttar Pradesh, the home state of the Gandhis, the party recently appointed district unit heads in all 75 districts months after all the state teams were dissolved by Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge.
Organization in UP had long been a problem for the party managers where the Congress has only 2 out of 403 MLAs and 6 out of 80 MPs. Rahul, who is one of the 6 MPs and is keen to retain lost ground in the BJP-ruled state, has been supervising the organizational restructuring.
“Kharge, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra have always been focussed on Uttar Pradesh. Some of the DCC chiefs have been retained while new faces have been brought in several places. These local leaders will now share their views with the high command and suggest a roadmap for reviving the party in the state. The new DCC chiefs have been appointed keeping social engineering in mind and they will in turn encourage new persons to play a more active role in the party. They will also have more say in party matters. Over the coming days, you will notice a new form in the party,” former AICC secretary in charge of Madhya Pradesh and senior UP Congress leader Sanjay Kapoor told ETV Bharat.
“The other committees will also be set up before the AICC session next month,” he said.
According to party insiders, the AICC session will give a formal shape to the proposed restructuring being carried out in the Congress organization in 2025. The last such local level appointments were done in 2019 when Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was in charge of the up.
In another big state Maharashtra, the Congress did well by winning 14 of 48 Lok Sabha in 2024 but could not repeat that performance in the assembly elections, partly due to alleged voter list manipulation by the saffron party and partly due to lack of booth management. However, party managers claimed the Congress had presence across most of the districts in Maharashtra even though its strike rate was not very high in the state elections.
“There are some vacant posts in the state and the same will be filled up soon. The Congress ruled the state in the past and therefore has a presence in most of the districts. There is scope for us to expand. The DCC chiefs will now be empowered and there will be accountability also. For that regular interactions with them will have to be done. The high command directly interacting with the district chiefs is happening after decades. This will certainly have a far-reaching impact,” AICC secretary in charge of Maharashtra BM Sandeep told ETV Bharat.
