New Delhi: Amid a review of the Lok Sabha poll results, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge is also planning to reshuffle the organisation both at the AICC and state levels. According to party insiders, the proposed changes will help factor in the results of the national polls, give key party roles to new persons and prepare the party for future challenges.
“The party is collecting booth-wise data from all the Lok Sabha seats. An analysis of the results is needed to understand both the gains and the losses. We need to understand the factors that worked for us and the ones, which led to defeat. Some organisational changes may take place after the review,” a senior AICC functionary said.
As part of the change, states like West Bengal, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka may get new PCC chiefs, the party insiders said. According to party insiders, Kharge has accepted the resignation of West Bengal unit chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who put in his papers a few days ago.
Chowdhury, who was leader of the Congress in the previous Lok Sabha, not only lost his traditional seat Baharampur to TMC’s Yusuf Pathan, but the grand old party could not win any parliamentary seat in the eastern state, which sends 42 members to the Lower House of Parliament.
In Bihar, which has 40 Lok Sabha seats, the Congress-RJD-Left alliance failed to put up a strong counter to the BJP-JD-U-LJPRV combine. As a result, the RJD could win only four seats while the Congress secured three and CPI-ML two. Party insiders attribute the result to a weak campaign and faulty distribution of tickets by the Congress, which contested nine seats.
The results in Himachal Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka were not up to the mark despite the Congress being in power there. In Himachal Pradesh, the Congress lost all four Lok Sabha seats, could win only eight of a total of 17 seats in Telangana and won only nine out of 28 seats in Karnataka.
Accordingly, Himachal Pradesh unit chief Prathibha Singh may be replaced while Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy may have to give up the post of state unit chief.
In Karnataka, the change may involve deputy chief minister DK Shiv Kumar, who was allowed to continue as state unit chief till the national elections after the party swept the 2023 assembly elections with 135/224 seats.
According to party insiders, some changes may also take place at the AICC level related to states like Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Delhi.
Rajasthan in-charge SS Randhawa has won his election from the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat and may like to focus more on his home state. Hence, Rajasthan may get a new in charge.
Furthermore, as Punjab in-charge Devender Yadav is now spearheading the party’s revival in his role as Delhi unit chief, Punjab may get a new in-charge. Out of these states, the Lok Sabha results have been discouraging in MP, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Delhi.
The Congress, which had won only 1/29 seats in MP in 2019, could not win even a single seat in the BJP-ruled state. Assam in-charge Jitendra Singh was given the additional charge of MP and may have to drop one state to pave the way for a new person.
Similarly, Delhi and Haryana in-charge Dipak Babaria may have to give up one state.
In Chhattisgarh, where the Congress could win only one out of 11 seats, the party may change state unit chief Deepak Baij and may have to rethink the role of in-charge Sachin Pilot.
In Gujarat, where the BJP has been winning all 26 seats since 2014, lone Congress MP from Banaskantha Geniben Thakur has been the only saving grace for the grand old party. Mukul Wasnik is in-charge of Gujarat.
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