Sukhu makes it top heavy, gets 51 secys in state Cong

Pratibha Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, July 28

The number of secretaries in the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) has touched an all-time high of 51 which comprises mostly young leaders. Their appointments have been made to nurture the second-line leadership.

The HPCC held a day-long training camp for the 51 secretaries, a majority of whom are in the age group of 30 to 40 years. It was only a fortnight back that 12 new HPCC secretaries had been appointed by the AICC, raising their number to 51, the highest till date. The HPCC already has eight vice-presidents and general secretaries each.

A majority of the secretaries, who have been associated with the National Students Union of India and the Youth Congress, are being entrusted responsibilities within the organisations and in various districts. Only time will tell whether this experiment proves to be productive or a mere exercise to adjust loyalists in the body and give representation to every district and area.

Keeping in mind Rahul Gandhi’s vision of having a young leadership, the HPCC under Sukhu has tried to entrust the maximum responsibilities to younger leaders whether in the state body or in districts. It is for the first time that 68 observers have been appointed to oversee the functioning of the Block Congress Committee (BCC) in each Assembly segments. These observers attend and report the proceedings of all meetings of the BCCs.

“All of you have been given a big responsibility at such a young age to make the best possible efforts to strengthen the Congress,” Sukhu said. He said the secretaries must take the policies and programmes of the government to the people so that they could benefit. “You should counter the false propaganda by the BJP so that the Congress can do well in the panchayati raj elections,” he said.