State unit presidents will be hand-picked by the new AICC president.
New Delhi: As the Congress has kept pending the appointments and replacement of Pradesh Congress Committee presidents in many states, party leaders said that the high-command has further put the process on complete hold until the AICC president is chosen. According to the leaders, state unit presidents will be hand-picked by the new AICC president.
In the tumultuous elections in five states early this year, the Congress lost all the five elections, including Punjab, where it was in power after which the high-command sought the resignation of all five state unit presidents, out of which four state unit presidents have been replaced, but the appointment in Uttar Pradesh was kept pending through frequent rejection of candidates for the post.
According to a party leader, there are more than six state units currently that need their presidents to be replaced or appointed. Out of the six, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are considered the most important state units by the Congress, where the party will have concentrated focus even after appointing state unit presidents, according to a Congress leader.
In order to choose the state presidents, the top leader of the party will take decision after compiling performance of all the candidates, taking in view the coming five years which the party leaders believe are going to be challenging. The faction-ridden state units need rebuilding from the bottom-up, and the new AICC president will focus on reconstruction of the depleted cadre in many states.
The call to halt the appointments has been taken so that the decision making is smooth across the state units, after the new appointment at the AICC’s helm. The move is also seen to cement authority at the top and send a positive message across the rank and file that “the party is in action” mode to ensure due diligence is given to the high command.
The party wants to start anew in every possible front in order to come up as a strong force in the 2024 general election, for which it believes the strong conditioning of state units is necessary.
The high command is also wary of any Sidhu-like rebellion which had demotivated the cadre in Punjab and was considered as the prime reason for the loss of assembly elections in the state. Navjot Singh Sidhu was the president of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee.
In the meantime, the Congress is preparing for intra-party election of Congress president which will be held from 21 August to 20 September this year, after which the grand old party will have a permanent president for the term of five years. The party is currently run by Sonia Gandhi as the interim president of the party.
It is worthy to mention that the chorus for Rahul Gandhi to be the party president is increasing and in all likelihood, he may take the top post, according to well-placed sources in the Congress.