After dithering for at least three years, Rahul Gandhi at last has decided to take on responsibility in the Congress organisation, as on Monday he was appointed an AICC general secretary to be a crucial part of the team that will take the ruling party into the next general elections.

The Amethi MP’s appointment as the general secretary in charge of the party’s youth wing, the All India Youth Congress, and students’ wing, the National Students Union of India (NSUI), set off wild celebrations outside the 24, Akbar Road headquarters of AICC, with droves of party workers dancing to drum beats and bursting firecrackers.

Mr Gandhi, who gains automatic entry into the powerful Congress Working Committee (CWC) for being a general secretary, will also be a part of the “Group to Look Into the Future”, a new mechanism devised to formulate the party’s programmes in tune with the needs of the coming times, apart from being a member of the publicity & publication department.

The entry of the Gandhi family scion into the party organisation after an almost endless wait of party workers, who had been demanding since the 2004 General Elections that he take up an active role in AICC, while the man himself had been saying that he needed more time to learn the ropes.

Balancing act
The reshuffle in the AICC overall has seen a fine balancing act by Ms Gandhi, who has effected a neat re-dedication of responsibilities without going for much change at the top level, while she has given responsibilities to quite a few young faces as secretaries and members of other important wings.

Young faces who have found a place in the new AICC team include Priya Dutt, the late Sunit Dutt’s daughter who has been made a secretary along with former Delhi University Students’ Union president Alka Lamba. Union Minister of State for Urban Development Ajay Maken also sees an upswing in his fortunes as he has been a permanent invitee to CWC in charge of Orissa and Jharkhand.

The other young faces in the organisation include the usual suspects like Jyotiraditya Scindia (special invitee to CWC and member of the Department of Policy Planning & Coordination or DEPCO and the Future Group), Jitin Prasad (secretary), Milind Deora (DEPCO member), and Sachin Pilot and Sandeep Dikshit (both Future Group members).

That the Congress is already in the election mode became clear with Monday’s reshuffle that included formation of the new Manifesto Committee of AICC, comprising Pranab Mukherjee, Arjun Singh, Veerappa Moily, Digvijay Singh, P Chidambaram, Margaret Alva, Mani Shankar Aiyer, P R Kyndiah, Mukul Wasnik, Salman Khursheed, Arjun Sengupta, Jairam Ramesh, Kishore Chandra Deo, Dr G Parameshwar and R K Nayak.