Congress mulls setting coordination committees in a bid to decentralise 'control'

New Delhi: Congress is mulling setting up coordination committees in states where the party is in power to ensure that control of the administration is not centralised in one person and there is proper consultation within the party on policy formation and governance.

The template is that of the UPA Coordination Committee but this will be an inner-party mechanism to ensure that governance is on track and the party leadership and the government are on the same page. Congress is in power in Karnataka, Telangana, Kerala and Himachal Pradesh.

The Chief Minister and senior leaders as also a Congress in-charge are likely to be part of the new mechanism, which has the endorsement of Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, who is of the view that a broad-based mechanism is needed instead of focussing one leader centric governance.

The idea for the coordination committee has been floated as the authority of the High Command was challenged by regional satraps who refused to honour the power-sharing understanding earlier in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

In Kerala where the Congress is leading the coalition, there is a mechanism for consultation with allies in the form of United Democratic Front (UDF), which has a senior Congress leader as its Convenor. However, the proposed mechanism will be party-centric.

The proposal comes at a time supporters of Siddaramaiah are advocating the need for setting up an advisory council in Karnataka with outgoing Karnataka Chief Minister as its head, on the lines of Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) set up during the UPA era.

Such a panel, they claim, would help in building consensus on contentious issues.

Factional fights had troubled the Congress governments with ambitious leaders taking on the Chief Minister, impacting governance. In Himachal Pradesh, Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu has been under pressure from his detractors while the same is the case of Revanth Reddy in Telangana.

Siddaramaiah and incoming Chief Minister DK Shivakumar were also at loggerheads over transfer of power. In Kerala, VD Satheesan assumed charge last month after a protracted battle for the leadership role.