AICC Ahmedabad session beings on April 8 to revive Congress' lost impetus

Ahmedabad: Congress will hold its crucial two-day AICC Session starting here on Tuesday, with a hope to pave a solid foundation for its revival by making its district committees the focal point of its organisation and party ideology its pivot in the fight against the BJP.

The Session, with a tagline ‘Nyay Path: Sankalp, Samarpan Aur Sangharsh’ (Path of Justice: Determination, Dedication and Struggle), comes at a crucial juncture when Congress has lost the momentum it had gathered after the 2024 polls following the electoral reverses in Maharashtra, Haryana and Delhi.

The leaders are expected to get clarity on future tasks, which includes ideological training, social engineering, countering anti-party activities, setting pro-party narrative and management of elections, funds, media, social media and assets and properties at the session.

The central leadership has already met 862 district presidents in three batches in Delhi where they were indicated about the unprecedented authority they would be getting.

Both Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi have set the stage for the revamp with their unqualified support for decentralisation. Kharge said in one of the meetings, “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.”

The new charges include appointing or sacking office-bearers, which otherwise was done by the state unit, but with a warning that they will not be allowed to play favourites. They will also have more of a role in candidate selection.

From now on, there will also be a mechanism for direct and regular communication between the central leadership and district presidents. It is also to be seen whether the party decides to bar district presidents from contesting elections for a specific period.

Marking 2025 as a year of organisational revamp, Congress is turning aggressive with a politically loaded focus on Gujarat, the land of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhai Patel and from where its principal rival Narendra Modi comes from.

Returning to the Gujarat capital for the Session after 104 years, the choice of venue has not lost its symbolism as Congress insists on sending a message to its cadre that it is not unwilling to take on the ruling BJP and Modi at his backyard. Recently, Rahul had told Gujarat cadre that those Congress leaders who are working for BJP could leave the party and there will be a purge.

The first day of the session on April 8 will see a meeting of the extended Congress Working Committee chaired by Kharge at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Memorial where senior leaders will prepare the fineprint for organisational revamp.

This will be followed by the delegate Session on the Sabarmati river banks where around 2,000 delegates, including 1,725 AICC members, would give their stamp of approval on the new roadmap. The most anticipated event of the Session would be Rahul’s address.

At the extended CWC chaired by Kharge, which will see attendance of 169 leaders, including Chief Ministers and former Chief Ministers and Central Election Committee members among others, the leadership will discuss contours of making the District Congress Committees the hub of organisation.

Sources said a 15-member Drafting Committee headed by Randeep Surjewala is burning midnight oil to finalise resolutions – one on overall political and organisational situation and a second one specifically on Gujarat with – for the Session.

Guarat hosted five AICC Sessions, including three in Ahmedabad with the last one being in 1921 where Gandhi was given the sole executive authority of the Congress. The fifth AICC Session in Gujarat was in Bhavnagar in 1961.