Congress to let district presidents appoint office bearers, sack non-performers

New Delhi: Congress is all set to transfer substantial power to its district presidents, making them the last word with unprecedented authority to appoint office bearers and sack non-performers but with a warning that they will not be allowed to play favourites, sources said on Thursday.

The district chiefs will also get more powers on electioneering, as they would lead the efforts to find a candidate for elections at all levels through consensus, and if cleared at the AICC Session in Ahmedabad on April, sit in party's Central Election Committee meeting to choose nominees for Assembly and Lok Sabha, from their area of operations.

Sources said these will also lead the party's ideological interventions, social engineering, countering anti-party activities, setting pro-party narrative, training and managing media and social media at all levels in the districts. Non-performing district presidents will face the axe without time lapse, sources said.

The district presidents have also been asked to set up various wings like media, social media and other departments. An Asset and Properties Department should also be set up, they have been told.

These plans were conveyed to the first batch of 338 district Congress presidents from 13 states and three union territories, including from Karnataka, who were called for a meeting with the Congress central leadership, including party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal. Presidents from other districts will meet the leadership in the next one week.

At the meeting convened as part of the party's plans charted in Belagavi in December last year to empower District Congress Committees (DCCs), Kharge said, "district presidents, your role is crucial. You are not just our messengers, but the generals of the Congress Party, leading from the front on the ground."

Sources said the district presidents will now lead structural changes in the way the party functioned and would focus especially on anchoring the party's ideology at the grassroots as well as keeping a close watch on electioneering, including ensuring the sanctity of voters' lists. They will have a crucial role in candidate selection as they will have to take feedback from the grassroots to enable the leadership to finalise a nominee.

"Most importantly, we must remember to work in unity with a long-term strategy to win elections at the state level. Our ideology is strong, but without power, we cannot implement it," Kharge said.

When a district president highlighted the trouble in enforcing certain decisions, sources said Rahul told the leaders that they will have to act judiciously and take decisions accordingly. According to the Congress plans, sources said, the district presidents would get power to take final decisions on contentious issues.

The leadership has also asked the district presidents to ensure that party assets are managed properly so that local leaders do not take control of properties with the organisation having little control. The district presidents have submitted a list of party assets to the central leadership before the meeting.

Sources said district presidents may not be able to contest elections for three years as suggested by a committee headed by Mukul Wasnik Committee and it could be rolled out in Gujarat first as a pilot project. A senior leader said a final call would be taken at the extended Congress Working Committee.