Each committee has members numbering from 60 to 100.
NEW DELHI
The Congress party in Jharkhand is working to strengthen its organisation at the grassroots by forming panchayat committees to reach out to the electorate. This, state leaders say, has been done for the first time. Moreover, the micromanagement is being done in the hope of gaining a bigger seat share to contest as part of an alliance with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) for the Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress has made coordination committees on all 14 Lok Sabha seats of the state. These committees have been made responsible for the verification and involvement of party leaders. Each committee has members numbering from 60 to 100. A party leader said, “The constituencies vary in population density and in terms of area. Keeping both these things on mind, if the constituency is smaller it will have a committee strength of around 60 members, and if the constituency is bigger it will have members numbering around 100.”
Jharkhand Congress unit president Rajesh Thakur told The Sunday Guardian, “Yes, this may be the first time we have reached to the grassroots. Before this as well we used to do it. But it would generally be formed up to the block level. However, this time we have formed committees to oversee the verification right up to the bottom of the organisational hierarchy. K. Raju (Congress’ ex minister in Kerala) had come to visit two Scheduled Tribe-dominated Lok Sabha seats, which we had lost with a margin of less than 15,000 votes. He had attended the two Lok Sabha seats. He and Rajesh Lilothia did a meeting later where K. Raju said that probably this was the first time that the coordination committees had been made so perfectly for the Lok Sabha elections. Moreover, there is an enthusiasm among people.”
The party has given vice presidents, working president and senior leaders (who earlier contested Lok Sabha elections) the responsibility of helming the committees. Each committee will have one in-charge and one convener. In addition to that, the senior leaders believe, they have clarified a lot of organisational processes to leaders and the people who are ticket aspirants. Those who are expected to get tickets have already started their work in their respective constituencies.
A leader said, “The focus will be on the panchayats. So that as many people as possible get involved with the party and work to reach the desired end of helping the Congress reach a better Lok Sabha tally in the state. At the panchayat level, we have 25 members in the committee and everybody’s contact, age, etc., will be collected and verified.”
Party insiders suggest that the Congress is trying to get nine seats in seat-sharing with the JMM, which is higher than the last time of seven seats.