Kamal Nath meets Sonia Gandhi, sets off Congress reshuffle buzz

Amid indications of a “drastic change” in Congress in coming days, party veteran and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath met Congress president Sonia Gandhi, setting off a buzz that he is in for a major role in the party.

Nath's meeting with Gandhi happened two days after poll strategist Prashant Kishor had a nearly two-hour-long meeting with Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi with the party eyeing to tone up its organisation ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The changes in Congress are to be carried from the top to the bottom. While interim president Sonia Gandhi is not keen to continue the arrangement for very long, former President Rahul Gandhi is yet to give any indication about his willingness to come back as party's chief.

The buzz is that a veteran like Nath could be made Working President. Mallikarjun Kharge, another veteran has been accommodated as Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha while two more such leaders Ashok Gehlot and Captain Amarinder Singh are Chief Ministers in Rajasthan and Punjab.

Nath shares good relations with leaders across the spectrum in Opposition space and also has good equations with many leaders in the G-23 camp of Congress, which had sought a leadership change in the party.

A meeting of the Congress Working Committee to set the process for electing new Congress President is likely to be decided after the Monsoon session. The CWC meeting would be followed by an AICC session after at least a five weeks gap. The demise of Ahmed Patel, political secretary to Sonia Gandhi has left a void in a key position.

Among states to witness a rejig, the dissidence-torn Punjab could be the first, where Navjot Singh Sidhu is likely to be given a larger role with Captain Amarinder Singh remaining the CM face, a formula which is expected to bring together warring factions.

Gujarat, where the party is rudderless with its AICC general secretary in-charge for the state Rajiv Satav’s tragic death and its PCC chief and CLP leaders --Amit Chavda and Paresh Dhanani having resigned after a debacle in local bodies polls in March this year, could be the next. Congress leaders from Gujarat had met AICC general secretary K C Venugopal on July 14 to discuss organisational changes.

AICC in-charge for West Bengal Jitin Prasad joined the BJP, a post that has to be filled up. Nitin Raut, who headed the Scheduled Caste Morcha of Congress is now a minister in the Maharashtra government while Tamradhwaj Sahu who headed OBC Morcha is a minister in the Chattisgarh government. Nana Patole, who headed AICC Kisan Morcha was made Maharashtra PCC chief. All these posts are to be filled.

Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat on Thursday met Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi two days after he had held discussions with Rahul Gandhi regarding organisational reshuffle in the poll-bound state. Congress is looking for a total revamp of the state unit after the death of its Legislature Party leader Indira Hridayesh. Rawat is tipped to be the party's face for 2022 state polls there while for the party chief, Congress is looking for a popular Brahmin face to balance caste equations.

Another major rejig is on the cards in trouble-torn Rajasthan to broker peace between warring factions of Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot.

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