Poll rout: Rahul to meet general secretaries today

NEW DELHI: Following the defeat of Congress in Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkand and more recently in Haryana and Maharashtra, party vice president Rahul Gandhi has decided to hold the first round of consultations with general secretaries of the organization to work on a revival and restructuring plan for the party.

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 23

Following the defeat of Congress in Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkand and more recently in Haryana and Maharashtra, party vice president Rahul Gandhi has decided to hold the first round of consultations with general secretaries of the organization to work on a revival and restructuring plan for the party.

Gandhi will tomorrow meet all 12 general secretaries of All India Congress Committee to talk about the strategy for revamp and the plan to reconnect with the masses who have been alienated from the party.

The meeting will discuss the feedback Gandhi has received from his rounds of consultations with senior party leaders from across states. Some common points have emerged from those discussions, said Congress insiders adding that one of those points is the party’s failure to pitch its message to the people and another regarding the overall need for strengthening the organization and state leaderships.

Rahul had in the wake of Haryana and Maharashtra defeats started consultations with select groups of leaders where he asked them to speak frankly about the course correction needed to revive a sagging Congress.

“Leaders spoke freely. Some even told him that he needed to be more visible and that the communications wing of the party needs urgent overhauling. Rahul will tomorrow discuss with general secretaries the steps need to be taken to stem the ongoing rot. His feedback from previous consultations will form the basis of the discussions."said a Congress source.

Party insiders said tomorrow’s meeting could well be the start of the much awaited reshuffle in the Congress which has done nothing visible since its decimation in Lok Sabha elections this May. The party later lost Haryana, Maharashtra, and now J&K and Jharkhyand.

CONG EXTENDS MEMBERSHIP DEADLINE

On the request of some state party presidents, the Congress today extended by two months the deadline for enrolling members for the organizational elections due in 2015. The previous December 31, 2014 deadline has now been extended to February 28, 2015, said Congress general secretary Organization Janardan Dwivedi.