NEW DELHI: Congress party reshuffled leaderships in Jharkhand and Jammu & Kashmir ahead of Assembly elections, appointing Tariq Hamid Karra and Keshav Mahto Kamlesh as new state unit heads.
The Congress party has made hard-hitting changes in the two election bound states of Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir as the sitting presidents, Rajesh Thakur and Vikar Rasool Wani, of the respective state units have been relieved from the post just before the Assembly elections.
In Jammu and Kashmir, former finance minister and former Member of Parliament Tariq Hamid Karra has been appointed as the state unit chief and in Jharkhand, Keshav Mahto Kamlesh has been made the state unit head. A top Congress leader said, “It is not what happens generally in Congress. The party doesn’t make any changes in state units after the election commission has declared the schedule for a state. This is one of the rare occasions, like in the case of Jammu and Kashmir, that we have seen Congress getting into hyperactive mode and change the state presidents just before one month of Assembly elections.” The current state unit chiefs, according to leaders at the AICC, were not performing well due to which the cadre was not functioning to the full potential. According to a senior leader, “Both the outgoing presidents have had one thing in common and that is, they didn’t see Congress beyond a coutre they had created. There are a lot of people who have worked for the party and expect to be given responsibilities, so that the party can use them in the crucial time of elections but these two leaders would just employ people who would be their ‘yes men’.”
The two important changes just before the elections, according to senior leaders, show that Congress is giving a straight message that Rahul Gandhi has become serious about the party affairs. According to a top leader, the two appointments have been made after carefully getting feedback about different leaders in the respective states. Moreover, the two leaders are said to be chosen without the intervention of any senior Gandhi family loyalist, rather, they have directly been finalised by Rahul Gandhi, according to sources.
According to leaders in Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir, both the states are expected to do better in Assembly elections as the former chiefs would spend less time in developing relationships with the grassroots. A leader in Kashmir said, “Karra is a better choice than all others in Kashmir. He has an image of honest man and he is someone who stands on his word.”
In Jharkhand, after the change, the grand old party is expecting a better communication with Congress workers and those who were excommunicated by Thakur. A Congress leader in Jharkhand said, “This is the best time for Congress to revive the party in the state as the previous leadership had created a leadership vaccum. If the new leadership can tap into the sentiments of the party cadre, it can perform better. For now, we are expecting to win only six seats in the state. But if the party leadership works well, we can retain the numbers we had during last Assembly elections.”