New Delhi: The Congress will decentralise decision-making and empower over 800 district committees as part of the plan to revive the grand old party nationally.
District-level committees used to play a key role in Congress decades ago but gradually lost significance as organisation building suffered and the grand old party ceded space to the regional parties across states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu.
The Congress lost power at the Centre in 2014 after ruling the country from 2004 onwards. The Congress which had 44 out of 543 MPS in 2014 could increase its tally to just 52 in 2019. The mood in the Congress was upbeat after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in which the party won 99 of 543 seats but went down after the party lost assembly elections in Haryana, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi.
The shocking poll losses prompted the leaders including party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi to revamp the grand old party which started with the recent appointment of several state in charge. A marathon seven-hour brainstorming session with the AICC functionaries was held on February 19 in the new headquarters Indira Bhawan.
During the strategy session, it was decided to re-strengthen the district panels, fix the accountability of the state in charge and take up people's issues aggressively over the coming days.
“Several district committees across states do not have full strength of office bearers. The vacant posts will be filled on a priority basis now across the country. In places where the district committees don’t exist the same will be set up. This will boost the organization nationwide. The DCCs will also take up political programs aggressively in consultation with the state units and AICC. The DCCs provide feedback on ground level politics and give inputs during candidate selection,” AICC in charge of Manipur, Sikkim, Tripura and Nagaland Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka told ETV Bharat.
“This is in a way decentralization of power to make the party stronger at the district level. The focus will also be on regrouping the teams at the block and booth level. This will be the first step. The next step will be to take up agitational programs against the non-Congress governments in the state and at the Centre,” he said.
According to Ulaka, a revamped organization will effectively carry out the “Save Constitution’ foot marches the Congress has planned around the year 2025.
According to AICC in charge of Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh Rajani Patil, the weakening of the district committees over the past years is linked to the electoral outcomes in the states and the Centre.
“The DCC is the backbone of the party. If the backbone is not strong how will the party be strong and function properly? The move to strengthen the DCCs will energize the workers on the ground and will give them a sense of belonging. This has been a problem for long but will now be addressed majorly. The change will not happen overnight but will have to be done with regularity. Our pro-people focus will continue,” Rajani Patil told ETV Bharat.
