A guessing game has begun in the Congress whether the party chief Sonia Gandhi will reconstitute her AICC team before or after the Bihar Assembly polls expected in October-November this year.
Mrs Gandhi has virtually re-elected as the party chief for a third time and a formal announcement in this regard is expected to be made on Friday.
According to the well placed sources “any thing can happen about an AICC reshuffle”. Mrs Gandhi has been delaying this expertise for last 15 moths, especially after the victory of the UPA-II in May 2009
About half a dozen Union ministers including Mr A.K. Antony, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mr M. Verappa Moily, Mr Mukul Wasnik, Mr Prithviraj Chavan, Mr V. Narayanasamy and Mr Jairam Ramesh have been holding duel charge in the organisation.
Besides, a senior minister Pranab Mukherjee who has been heading a number of GoMs, doing floor management being the Lok Sabha leader and has been playing a role of the trouble shooter in the UPA I and II governments, has also been playing a role in the organisation. He was the West Bengal PCC chief till a few months back.
If the party insiders are to be believed, Mrs Gandhi is unlikely to revamp her team in one go. But it will be interesting to see whether the AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi will take interest in the next AICC reshuffle and promotes youths on important positions.
Though the Congress will be facing Assembly elections in five states including West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry next year, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashrtra states would be key states in the changing political situation.
If the situation in Andhra Pradesh may not remain peaceful because of the demand of a separate Telangana state and infighting in the state Congress, the situation in Maharashtra could be fluid as there is growing realisation among political players that the current arrangement may not remain intact.
If the Congress’ objective is to form a next government on its own, the BJP has realised that the Raj Thackeray-led MNS would be more effective than the Shiv Sena.
The NCP, on the other hand, is working hard to expand in north Maharashtra, Marathawada and Konkan.
If the Congress insiders are to be believed, the Trinamul Congress’ main objective is to check the Congress’ growth in West Bengal. The Congress can become threat to the Mamata Banerjee-led party if the Left front gets defeated in the coming Assembly polls.
And in Karnataka, the rank and file is unhappy the way AICC is handling the state. “ The Congress can be revived in Karnataka if it consolidates minorities, scheduled castes and backward castes. Other major communities will automatically come to us,” said a prominent party leader.