NEW DELHI: Ahead of the election of new party chief, the Congress is set for another major organizational revamp soon before Rahul Gandhi takes over reins of the party early next year. Party sources said the changes are a move to bring in young and active party members at various posts and departments in the party The reshuffle will include AICC secretary-level functionaries, heads of some departments and cells and state in-charges and chiefs.
In September, a major reshuffle was carried out with changes in the Congress Working Committee and at general secretary level. “The process for the second round of reshuffle started early October and finally it is expected to be announced this month. The names will be sent to Rahul Gandhi for the final approval,” said a senior party leader.
There are 56 AICC secretaries and around half of them are likely to be dropped and some new faces are expected to be in. “A majority of secretaries likely to be dropped are those who have remained inactive,” said a party source.Also expected are changes in heads of various departments and cells, which are either vacant or lying vacant for quite some time.
For instance, the party’s communication department is likely to get a new chief after Randeep Singh Surjewala was appointed as general secretary in-charge for Karnataka. Similarly, All India Kisan Congress chief Nana Patole had quit as chairman after the 2019 general elections. Though the party held countrywide protests against three farm laws, the party’s farmers’ wing doesn’t have a chief.
The party’s Scheduled caste (SC) cell doesn’t have a head for over a year and a half after Nitin Raut quit. Like Patole, he had won assembly elections in Maharashtra and is now a minister in the Uddhav Thackeray cabinet. The OBC department is headed by Chhattisgarh home minister Tamradhwaj Sahu and a new person is expected to take over the charge from him, the sources said.
Change of guard
Some state in-charges such as Dinesh Gundu Rao may be relieved of multiple responsibilities. The party is also likely to appoint new faces in state units with focus on poll-bound states.