New Delhi: Congress seeks to initiate transformation in the party with social representation finding a place in the selection of AICC delegates, though the challenge to implement the norms across the central and state-level teams remains.
The party recently finalised a list of 1,338 AICC delegates and 487 co-opted members, who were selected by the respective state units from amongst the 9,000 PCC delegates. As per norms, one AICC delegate was selected for every 8 PCC members. The AICC delegates will endorse the election of Mallikarjun Kharge as the new Congress president at the party’s 85th Plenary Session to be held at Raipur from February 24 to 26.
The Plenary is in a way a bigger version of the brainstorming session that the Congress held in May 2022 to prepare a roadmap for the 2024 national elections. The Udaipur Declaration, adopted at the end of the Chintan Shivir, had stipulated some far-reaching changes in the organisation like having 50 percent of all office-bearers under 50 years of age and giving representation to women, minorities, OBCs and Dalits in various party panels to prepare the organization for future challenges.
Recently, the AICC instructed the state units to follow the Udaipur Declaration norms while finalising the list of AICC delegates. Accordingly, out of the total AICC members, 704 are from the general category, 228 minorities, 381 OBCs, 192 SC, 133 ST, 235 women and 501 are below 50 years of age.
“There was a greater focus on following the Udaipur Declaration norms in the selection of AICC members. Even within the various social groups, focus was on including members from the various sub-categories to have a wider representation. This is an indication of transformation in the party,” AICC Secretary BM Sandeep Kumar, who is also a Coordinator for the Plenary, told ETV Bharat.
Soon after the Chintan Shivir, then Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had set up a Task Force to implement the Udaipur Declaration norms as many veterans in the state units had reservations over the proposals saying age should not be the only criteria for appointing office-bearers.
Party insiders averred that implementing the norms in the various committees at the central and state level would be a big challenge and the move would require changes to the Congress constitution. To deal with the issue, Kharge had set up a constitution amendment committee headed by Rajya Sabha member Ambika Soni ahead of the Plenary. The panel has made some suggestions to the Congress chief, who will put up the proposals before the 47-member Steering Committee which will meet on Feb 24 morning to decide the Plenary agenda.
“The Plenary session in Raipur will have widespread deliberations, which were held in ‘Udaipur Nav Sankalp Chintan Shivir’. In Udaipur Chintan Shivir, we had extensively deliberated on various subjects like political, organisational, economic, social justice, youth and empowerment. The Plenary session will be an important milestone to the journey towards 2024 Parliament election,” AICC general secretary in charge of Organization KC Venugopal said.
