NEW DELHI: With the appointment of five working presidents in Maharashtra, will the Congress follow the same model at the central level post-Rahul Gandhi’s resignation? Many party leaders feel that there could be working presidents from four regions in the country to ensure equal representation of every corner.
The party in the past had only once appointed a working president. Senior Congress leader from Uttar Pradesh, Kamlapati Tripathi was made working president in 1983 when Indira Gandhi was prime minister. Besides Rahul Gandhi, twice the party had vice presidents — Arjun Singh in 1980s and Jitendra Prasada in 1996-97.
According to party sources, there has been discussion on both working presidents and vice presidents and K C Venugopal, AICC, organizational secretary, seemingly has sought four names from the Congress Working Committee (CWC) members for the top post.
“There could be four working presidents and one from each region — north, east, west and south. The party is also likely to keep in mind that they represent different communities,” said a Congress party leader.
In Maharashtra, the Congress while appointing new party president and working presidents have kept in mind the social engineering and all prominent regions in the state getting representation.
Party chief Balasaheb Thorat comes from Maratha community and Congress Legislature Party leader KC Padavi belongs to Scheduled Tribes.
The changes have been made keeping in mind Assembly polls in the state by October. The party may soon make similar announcement in Haryana and Jharkhand.
“Some of the newly appointed functionaries are those who have contested and won elections,” said a leader from Maharashtra.