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AICC reshuffle likely before current session ends

Anita Joshua

Ministers in the government will probably be relieved of party work

The ‘one-man-one-post’ dictum to be followed wherever possible
Reconstitution of Youth Congress in
Tamil Nadu soon

NEW DELHI: The much-awaited organisational revamp of the Congress is likely to be wrapped up before the current session of Parliament is through. And, from all indications, ministers in the Union government will be relieved of party work, although there could be an exception or two.

Though Congress general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi had announced in May itself that an organisational reshuffle was inevitable with four general secretaries making it to the Union Council of Ministers, the issue had been kept on the backburner till now.

But with the Maharashtra Assembly elections due later this year, there is pressure on the party high command to end the uncertainty at the earliest.

Four general secretaries – Ghulam Nabi Azad, Prithviraj Chavan, Mukul Wasnik and V. Narayanasamy – have made it to the Ministry. Between them, they have a dozen States under their charge with Mr. Azad leading the pack with Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Orissa and Puducherry.

Mr. Wasnik is in charge of Delhi and Rajasthan besides the Seva Dal, Mr. Chavan has Haryana and Jammu & Kashmir while Mr. Narayansamy looks after party matters in Chhattisgarh, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Tripura.

Besides them , there is Defence Minister A. K. Antony and Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily. Both are members of the Congress Working Committee. While Mr. Antony is in charge of Maharashtra, Mr. Moily looks after Andhra Pradesh, Assam and the party’s Department of Policy, Planning and Coordination.

One-man, one-post

As to whether the party would adopt the ‘one-man-one-post’ dictum, senior Congress leaders maintained that the party constitution did not insist on this but the effort would be to follow the maxim wherever possible.

Meanwhile, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi told journalists on Wednesday that reconstitution of the Youth Congress in Tamil Nadu would begin shortly, now that the process is drawing to a close in Puducherry .

Fresh enrolment

Already, the Youth Congress has been reconstituted in Punjab, Gujarat and Daman & Diu. In all States where the process has been wrapped up or is under way, the existing structures were dissolved and fresh enrolment invited. This is followed by a scrutiny of the new members after which, the election process is set in motion.

According to Mr. Gandhi, the managers of the Youth Congress elections were getting better at it with every new State that they took up.

In Uttar Pradesh, the Youth Congress decided to divide the State into several zones for managing the elections.

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