NEW DELHI: The Congress on Wednesday announced its plan to expand its Law, Human Rights and RTI Department at all the district levels across the country.
The unit will be a team of at least five prominent lawyers in each administrative district to coordinate the activities and litigate on behalf of the party.
The department will also set up a ‘Rapid Response Force’ in each state with at least five prominent lawyers who will take up the legal matters in the court for the party in their respective states.
The announcement was made by the Law, Human Rights and RTI Department chairman of Congress Abhishek Manu Singhvi. He said that under the party’s expansion programme spearheaded by the senior leadership including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, the department would also be setting up units at the district level. “They will be our eyes and ears on the ground,” he said in a briefing about the lawyers to be appointed at the district level.
The meeting in which the decision was taken was attended by senior party leader Salman Khurshid and eleven state chairpersons, who participated physically and virtually.
Singhvi said that today’s meeting also decided to compile a comprehensive computerised directory of the members of the department from across the country in state-wise alphabetical order.
He disclosed that in order to involve and engage those who are not with the Congress party and are in the age group of 21 and 28 years, the department would launch an internship programme under which one or two such interns will be attached with each of the 127 MPs in the beginning. Later the internship programme will be extended at the MLA level also.