NEW DELHI: The party may consider replacing the top leadership in the poll-bound states, as party does its strategic preparations for the Assembly elections.
The Congress party may have finalised the number of states where they are planning to change the state unit presidents. Surprisingly, there is also one election-bound state Jharkhand, that could also see the change of leadership.
Sources privy to the developments suggest that there are seven states where the Congress could make changes in its leadership, and such states are Bihar, Odisha, Kerala, Telangana, Karnataka, West Bengal and Jharkhand. A senior spokesperson on the condition of anonymity said, “A very bold move would be to change the president of Jharkhand Congress unit as the upcoming elections are on the doorstep and the next state president will take up time to settle down or build his intra-organisational political network through which he can pass his commands and make things happen. The Congress in the state, if we see the recent Lok Sabha elections, has not made any mark electorally. Congress could only win two seats and all the other seats the party has lost with a considerable margin.”
The two other important states, where the leaders have been confused about the command structure of the state unit is Karnataka and Telangana, as in both the states the state unit presidents are holding top constitutional positions. In Karnataka, D.K. Shivakumar is the deputy chief minister and yet, is holding the position of state unit chief which has obstructed his full- fledged attention towards a particular position. Same is the case in Telangana, where Revanth Reddy is the chief minister of the state and is holding the position of state unit president.
A senior Congress leader holding a high position in the party said, “Both the leaders in both the states are suffering to give enough time to a particular responsibility. In Karnataka, it has led to a lot of confusion where the rank and file are not being able to align with a particular stand that comes from the party chief.”
He added, “They come for meetings and when they go back, they do what they want to do. His hold over the administration is slipping with each passing day. The next one is Revanth Reddy, his tenure of three years as a party president is anyway coming to an end. It is a clear logic that one man cannot hold two big positions with so many responsibilities, but he has somehow continued after becoming the chief minister.”
The two other states, who are not in the list, who will not have the presidents replaced despite getting bad feedback against them are Madhya Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. A senior leader said, “Congress does not want to change the presidents of so many states in one go. Although this is also a big number. Yet, there is a minor possibility that the president of Jammu and Kashmir state unit could get replaced. However, Jitu Patwari has got a lifeline.”
The Congress party is suffering, according to leaders in Jammu in Kashmir, from a lack of leadership. Moreover, they say that the organisation is not being taken care of proportionately which is giving an undue space to other regional parties in the union territory.
In Madhya Pradesh, according to sources, it is said that the ongoing state unit chief Jitu Patwari has gotten little time to take full- fledged charge of the party and therefore, he will be granted a second chance. A spokesperson in MP said, “Arun Yadav could have been another better choice but the high command seems to be continuing with the current leadership, but there is still this thing that they may have a constant check on the state and monitor it’s functioning.”