There is a clear indication that the much-awaited organisational rejig conducted by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge was as per the wish of former party president Rahul Gandhi. The most significant point was that Priyanka Gandhi was not elevated as vice president, and she would continue to be general secretary with no state assigned to her.
One of the reasons for the delay in the organisation reshuffle was that the discussions were carried out on the matter of appointing two vice presidents, for which names of Priyanka and KC Venugopal were being discussed. However, they were not able to come to a decision, hence, it took the leadership so long to finally conduct the reshuffle.
Venugopal continues as general secretary in charge of the organisation. It means the two big posts will be with the leaders from southern states. The Udaipur Declaration was ignored completely. Key recommendations like fixing a person’s tenure in any post to a maximum of five years, giving responsibilities to new faces, etc., were not implemented. If these conditions had been implemented, most office-bearers would have been relieved of their posts for at least three years. Kharge did not take any risk while conducting the reshuffle. He relied on the leaders who have been holding posts for several years now. The formula to fix responsibility for electoral defeat was also kept aside. As a formality, only states of general secretaries have been changed, barring Sukhvinder Singh Randhawa who was in charge of Rajasthan. This is the practice when the party has been witnessing a series of defeats in elections over the last nine years, with these general secretaries taking care of organisational affairs in different states. Harish Chaudhary is the only leader who could not manage to get a post. He has been removed from Rahul’s team. Devendra Yadav, who is politically less experienced, has been given charge of Punjab. Harish may somehow manage to get some political post in Rajasthan, however, it seems difficult.
Given the decisions taken for Rajasthan so far, it is certain the high command still trusts former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. The high command is said to be satisfied with the explanation of defeat in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. An increase in Congress’ vote share and seats in Rajasthan, as compared to the last elections, has gone in favour of Gehlot. It means Gehlot’s schemes made an impact. The major reasons for the defeat, according to leaders, were “BJP’s success in polarising voters, organisation’s failure to publicise schemes of Gehlot properly, repeating ministers and MLAs during ticket distribution, Sachin Pilot’s questions on his party government and his limited campaigning, etc.”
This is understandably the reason why Pilot has been sent away from Rajasthan politics. The reason behind the defeat in Chhattisgarh is that Bhupesh Baghel was left alone. Moreover, ED action was also one of the reasons for the party’s drubbing in this state. This is the reason why Gehlot and Baghel have been brought to central politics.
In Madhya Pradesh, the blame for defeat has been put entirely on Kamal Nath. Rahul Gandhi’s election strategist Sunil Konugolu had warned quite earlier that the party is losing because of the wrong strategy of Kamal Nath in MP. It is learnt that Nath has sent bills of expenses to the high command. He is isolated in the party now.
The BJP is said to be planning to make a big political move that will affect the politics of Congress in Madhya Pradesh ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. BJP has some equally surprising plans for Rajasthan as well.