A guessing game has begun in the Congress about who could find place in its working committee ahead of the party plenary session in Delhi. While the highest decision-making body is expected to be reconstituted on the lines of AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s vision, the names of Union ministers P. Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, S. Jaipal Reddy, Jairam Ramesh and Salman Khurshid are doing the rounds in the party circles.
The composition of the CWC, central election committee and AICC reshuffle is getting delayed while appointment of rests of the PCC presidents is also being postponed after Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s re-election as party chief for a record fourth time.
It will be interesting to see whether regional satraps find place in the 25-member apex policymaking body or old guards retains or the second line will be promoted. This is because the second line is closely working with Mr Rahul Gandhi.
The promotion of the second line has become important because the Congress has been lacking a strong second-rung leadership in at least half-a-dozen states. They include Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka and to some extent, Maharashtra.
In all these states, the party is not in a position to come to power on its own. On the other hand, Andhra Pradesh will be another key state where the Congress requires a strong and committed leader with a mass appeal.
According to the party insiders, image and leadership capacity should be the main criteria in the nominations. This is because a strategy of accommodating people and regional and caste balances may not be helpful in the long run. “We had seen this in the recent Bihar Assembly polls and we would see in the coming Assembly elections in about 10 states,” they said.
Meanwhile, the Rahul Gandhi effect is bound to be felt in the reconstituted CWC with the AICC giving indications on Sunday that young India would get its due place in the 25-member apex policymaking body of the party. “Certainly, if India cannot ignore its demographic profile so also the Congress Party has never ignored the young India,” party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said. He was asked whether the Rahul impact would be there in the reconstitution of the CWC with the young leader making a strong pitch for a greater say to the youth in party affairs. He, however, preceded his remarks by noting: “These are matters for the supreme leader to decide, but you can be rest assured that the Congress has always taken all regional, political, social and economic criteria into consideration.”