New Delhi: As the former Congress chief gets busy revamping the organization nationally, Rahul Gandhi has selected Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh as the model states.
The two states have been ruled by the BJP for years and, in both, the performance of the Congress was poor in the assembly as well as the national elections.
The Congress could win only 17 out of 182 assembly seats in 2022 and only one out of 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat in 2024. The grand old party won 66 out of 230 seats in Madhya Pradesh in the 2023 assembly elections but got just one out of 29 in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. A weak organization was identified as a major cause for the two results.
A blueprint for organizational revamp in the two states is being finalised which may be unveiled during the AICC session. The plan is likely to suggest giving more importance to the district unit chiefs than elected representatives and will deploy assembly-wise observers who will name the block and panchayat level heads as well as set up systems to induct youth into the party.
Gujarat is important for the Congress which is going to hold an AICC session in Ahmedabad on April 8 and 9 and has also started preparing for the 2027 assembly elections.
“Gujarat has been selected as a model state for the implementation of the party’s national organizational revamp to take place during 2025. The revamp includes some key changes in the existing system but the details are still being worked out,” senior Gujarat Congress leader Siddharth Patel told ETV Bharat.
“We have received suggestions on how to strengthen the party, how to remove the shortcomings in the system and how to attract youth to the party. We will firm up a view soon,” he said.
The next assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh will be in 2028 but newly appointed in-charge Harish Chaudhary and state unit chief Jitu Patwari have started preparing for the same.
“We are happy that MP has been selected as a model state for organizational revamp. We have completed the names of district unit chiefs and have compiled the list for block-level heads and panchayat-level heads. We will also have locality-level units in the cities. Observers in each assembly are being appointed for the same. A state-level convention will be held to take the process forward. We will complete the organizational work in two to three months,” Jitu Patwari told ETV Bharat.
Patwari, who has been travelling across the state along with Chaudhary to review district units, has been agitating against the state government’s policies over the past months.
“We will have to be in a fighting mode till the next elections to stage a comeback. Once the organizational revamp is done, the party will have a new look. Our main target is a strong organization at the local level and to get the right kind of workers who will keep fighting for the people,” he said.
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