NEW DELHI: The Congress seems to be finally getting into action mode, a month after its dismal show in the five state Assembly elections. A shake-up in the party is expected once the three-member review committee, headed by A K Antony, submits its report by April 30.
“It could be minor or major, depending on the recommendations of the committee,” Congress media cell chief Janardhan Dwivedi said. Though Dwivedi tried to project the expected shake-up as “something that happens in all political parties from time to time”, there was no denying that a few heads could roll.
The first hint of this came from party scion Rahul Gandhi during his two-day review session on Uttar Pradesh poll debacle.
But the extent to which Congress chief Sonia Gandhi would go in restructuring the party will depend on the Antony Committee report, which is expected to be submitted by April 30.
Besides Antony, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde are also in the panel, which is reviewing the Assembly poll results of Punjab, Uttarakhand, UP and Goa. The shake-up may not be confined to 24, Akbar Road, it could go down to the district and block levels.
The brand new party district and block committees will be put in place by April 15, sources said. Rahul has indicated that he would prefer to appoint zonal heads in the states to keep the grass-root workers connected to the party and its policies.
However, everyone is curious about what action would be taken against the erring Union Ministers Salman Kurshid, Sriprakash Jaiswal and Beni Prasad Verma, who have been blamed for goofing up the UP polls by their politically naive actions and comments.
Though UP Congress chief Rita Bahuguna has already offered to quit owning responsibility for the debacle, it needs to be seen whether she’ll be shown the door.
The fate of Digvijay Singh may also be decided soon. Whether he will be sent to his home state Madhya Pradesh or retain his coveted slot of mentoring Rahul Gandhi will also be known soon.
The fate of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan also hangs in the balance.