Congress on talent hunt in panchayats to groom new party leaders

Congress is now on a talent hunt in panchayats to identify around 25 party workers who won or lost local body elections in every state to groom them as leaders.

The Rajiv Gandhi Panchayati Raj Sangathan of the Congress has fanned out 18 of its coordinators across the country to interview such people, identify and select potential leaders, who should be groomed for bigger party assignments.

Sources said the initial plan was to finish the exercise by February-end but it has now been extended by a month, owing to Bharat Jodo Yatra and Plenary Session in Raipur.

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The initiative comes close on the heels of Congress Scheduled Castes Department identifying 50 Lok Sabha seats where it is going to run a Leadership Development Mission to identify emerging leaders from Dalit and tribal communities.

This, leaders involved in the exercise said, will not only strengthen the party organisation at the grassroots but also help in developing new leadership at the district and state level.

According to the plan discussed at a meeting chaired by RGPRS chairperson Meenakshi Natarajan, 15 leaders who won or contested local body elections will be identified in small states while it would be 25-30 in bigger states.

The coordinators will first meet local body members as well as those who contested elections and after extensive interviews, the leaders will be selected.

After selection, Natarajan and other RGPRS members will meet and interact with these people. The chosen leaders will organise ‘Sarvodaya camps’ at a later date as part of the programme.

In South Zone, which comprises Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the RGPRS have appointed D Geethakrishnan, KT Benny and Kiran Mughabasav have been appointed to oversee the exercise.

In another exercise to attract more people to Congress, its SC Department has announced its plan to enrol a million ‘Samvidhan Rakshaks’ across the country in the coming months in a new programme designed as a follow up to the Bharat Jodo Yatra to counter the “RSS onslaught” on the Constitution aimed at changing its “basic structure”.

Once the members are enrolled, the Department plans a flurry of activities, which includes video tutorials on Constitution by experts and uploading of videos by members taking pledge to save the Constitution. It also plans to use its YouTube channel ‘Bahujan Ka Awaaz’ for the purpose.