New Delhi: As rightly explained by sacked Congress spokesperson, Sanjay Jha in his latest tweet, saying, "Last night the deck chairs on the Titanic were rearranged", the major reshuffle in the All India Congress Committee gives out a clear message to the dissenters, who themselves had to pay a price for raising their voice over the need of strengthening the grand old party through strong organizational reforms.
While the reshuffle within the party has an evident stamp of Rahul Gandhi on it, Congress has convened a clear message to many of those 23 letter writers that the dissent is being accepted up to a limit in the grand old party.
On one side, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad got removed from the post of AICC General Secretary, on the other, Rahul Gandhi's loyalist Randeep Singh Surjewala became the biggest gainer after being appointed as the General Secretary in-charge of Karnataka as well as getting a place in Sonia Gandhi's six-member panel advisory committee.
Read:| Major reshuffle in Cong: 'Dissenters' suffer, Rahul loyalists gain
However, Azad is still a part of the Congress Working Committee (CWC). The other members who got replaced in CWC include, Adhir Ranjan Choudhary, Luizinho Falerio, Motilal Vohra and Tamradhwaj Sahu.
Azad, despite being one of most senior leaders as well as Congress' Loyalist for so many years, does not get accommodated in the advisory committee of Sonia Gandhi. However, Mukul Wasnik, who was also one of the signatories of the letter, got a place in the special committee.
Wasnik, who is being considered as a close aide of Ahmed Patel, was even offered the post of Congress Chief after Rahul Gandhi's resignation in 2019, owing to party's debacle in Lok Sabha Elections, but the perception changes when he questioned Congress' leadership in the dissent letter.
Ghulam Nabi Azad's Rajya Sabha term is also going to be ended, next year, which will likely be succeeded by Mallikarjun Kharge. Apart from him, Anand Sharma, Manish Tewari and Shashi Tharoor have not got any important position after the reshuffle.
The structural change turned out to be an opportunity for team Rahul Gandhi of getting a position into the core committees of Congress party. In addition to Surjewala, Manickam Tagore has also been appointed as the in-charge of Telangana as well as the member of CWC.
Read:| Congress forms special committee to assist Sonia
Jitin Prasada, another signatory of the dissent letter, was considered to be one of the closest aides of Rahul Gandhi as he was the part of the young cadre of Congress party. Prasada has now being shifted to West Bengal as the in-charge of the state, which is going to have elections in 2021.
The message of a sweeping overhaul is out and clear. Rahul Gandhi has taken major decisions by mixing dissenters and loyalists in the new setup, trying to avert the criticism that those who were behind the idea of a coup have been axed from their posts.
However, the intent of the letter has remained unnoticed as the CWC has again been constituted without any elections. Though, young leaders are given a chance of coming into the front, but how much will it work to make the party strong on the ground, is yet to be seen.
