AHMEDABAD: The Congress will undertake a “massive” organisational reshuffle and grant more powers to its district units, party general secretary K C Venugopal said on Tuesday. Sources said the party is likely to approve some changes in the organisation, including granting more powers to the District Congress Committees (DCCs) and raising the quota for SCs/STs/OBCs at all party positions beyond 50 per cent. The quota decision was taken at the Raipur session of the party.
The Congress is also discussing the appointment of women and youths in 50 per cent party positions, and that may go even beyond the limit. The decision of having women and youths in half of party positions was also part of the Raipur declaration. Briefing reporters after the Extended Congress Working Committee meeting at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Memorial here, Venugopal noted the party has dedicated this year to a complete restructuring of its organisation and the issue was discussed at length during the meeting.
“We are going to have a massive organisational reshuffle, and there will be guidelines for the same. Our general secretaries and in-charges are on it,” Venugopal said. He also stressed that measures to empower the party’s district unit chiefs will be rolled out soon. “We have already decided on that. The issue of empowering DCC presidents and the duties and powers of the DCCs has been discussed in various forums. General secretaries and in-charges have already approved the proposals and we are going to roll it out in the near future,” he said, replying to queries.
Venugopal said the theme of the session is ‘Nyay Path: Sankalp, Samarpan and Sangharsh’ (Path of Justice: Resolution, Dedication and Struggle). He said that in the Belagavi session, “we had already passed the resolution on organisational restructuring of the Congress Party in 2025”. “We dedicated this year to the complete reform of the organizational structure. Today, we also discussed the issue,” he said, adding the Extended CWC has passed a resolution that “our party will walk on the path showed to us by Sardar Patel ji”.
“He stood up against the oppression of the British, fighting for the rights of workers and farmers. He rejected communal forces after Bapu’s (Mahatma Gandhi’s) assassination. He fought for an India where everyone had fundamental rights and freedoms,” Venugopal said. He added that the party’s top leaders vowed to embark on the “path of social justice” espoused by Sardar Patel. “Today, as we embark on the path of social justice, our Nyay Path follows the same principles laid down by Sardar Patel.” In his opening address at the meeting, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge asserted the party’s claim to Sardar Patel’s legacy and accused the BJP and RSS of trying to usurp it under a “well-planned conspiracy” against national heroes.
He stressed that the Congress was taking forward the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi and Patel. “Sardar Patel Saheb lives in our hearts, lives in our thoughts. We are taking his legacy forward. We have organised this CWC meeting in Ahmedabad at Sardar Patel Museum with this thought in mind. We pay our heartfelt tributes to him,” he said.
Earlier in the day, AICC general secretary Sachin Pilot told reporters that the Congress intends to create more empowered district units with their presidents having enhanced accountability, responsibility and political strength. He said the party would fight the upcoming elections with strength and expressed confidence that the Congress and its supporting ideologies would come together to give the BJP and the NDA a tough challenge.
Briefing reporters outside the venue, Pilot said, “The intention of the Congress president and the Leader of Opposition (Rahul Gandhi) is to create a more empowered district unit.” “The accountability, the responsibility and the political strength that we have thus given to the district presidents is set to be enhanced,” the former Union minister stressed.
The final outcome will be decided after the convention on Wednesday but the intention of the Congress is to make the DCC presidents more empowered than before, Pilot said, adding the move was aimed at expanding the party’s reach in villages, divisions and booths. “The year 2025 is the year of the organisation to strengthen our workers, expand our party ideology and to make sure that the Congress reaches out in a mass contact programme through foot marches and door-to-door programmes,” he said.
The party wants to send a clear message, not just to its opponents but also to its supporters and workers that the Congress will not step back and fight aggressively both within Parliament and outside, and make sure it wins the next political challenge, Pilot said. “Elections are fought to be won. We will fight the next few elections with strength and I am supremely confident that the Congress and its supporting ideologies will come together to give the BJP and the NDA a tough challenge,” Pilot said.
He said the resolution passed at the end of the session on April 9 will be named ‘Nyay Path’. “Tomorrow’s session will write a new chapter in history,” he said The grand old party has announced that the Ahmedabad Session will be themed “Nyaypath: Sankalp, Samarpan aur Sangharsh”, with more than 1,700 elected and co-opted AICC members attending the main conclave on April 9 on the banks of the Sabarmati river between the Sabarmati Ashram and Kochrab Ashram.
