New Delhi: Amid the focus on Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat polls and the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has initiated the process of strengthening the party. Over the past few months after the launch of the Bharat Jodo Yatra on September 7, the Congress leaders and workers are on cloud nine as Rahul Gandhi's programme was evoking a massive public response. But at the same time, simultaneous efforts should be put in to strengthen the party, especially in the big states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal with an eye on the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
On November 14, the new Congress chief will review the progress of a special panel, the Task Force 2024, that was set up by former party chief Sonia Gandhi soon after the Udaipur Chintan Shivir in May to implement the declaration adopted at the brainstorming conclave. “The yatra is generating a positive response, but if we have to take its benefit, the party has to be strengthened,” AICC general secretary in-charge of Kerala Tariq Anwar told ETV Bharat. Alongside, the Central Election Authority, which conducted the presidential polls, he has also asked the state-level returning officers to update the list of AICC delegates and the co-opted members by December 15.
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“We have asked the PROs to update the list of AICC delegates and co-opted members. Hopefully, the exercise would be over by December 15,” said a senior AICC functionary. While over 9,000 PCC delegates voted in the October 17 presidential polls, the AICC delegates will endorse Kharge’s appointment as the party chief at the Plenary session likely to be held in March 2023 after the yatra concludes in February.
According to party insiders, updating the list of AICC delegates and co-opted members in the state units is an indication that preparations for the much-awaited organisational revamp have begun. It is expected that Kharge, who promised organisational reforms during his presidential campaign, would implement the key decisions taken at the Udaipur Chintan Shivir in May, the party insiders said.
This included a plan to change the look of the 137-year-old party, ensure that half of all office bearers are under 50 years of age and give chance to new persons in party roles. The new persons, it is believed, would bring in a new style of working in the grand old party. The organisational revamp is closely linked to the Plenary as the decisions taken in the run-up would be endorsed by the AICC delegates, who would also take a call on whether or not to hold elections for the powerful Congress Working Committee.
Kharge had dissolved the existing CWC on October 26, the day he took charge as Congress president from Sonia Gandhi, and announced a Steering Committee with almost the same membership to take care of party affairs till the Plenary. Ahead of the organisational revamp, Kharge has sought a report from the various AICC in-charge on the functioning of the respective state units and would factor them in while deciding the new teams, said the sources.
