AICC appoints observers to select district chiefs; party workers miffed

The All India Congress Committee (AICC) has appointed 12 observers for the selection of District Congress Committee (DCC) presidents in Himachal Pradesh under the “Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan” initiative. The observers will gather feedback from the ground level to facilitate the selection of the party heads at the district level. “The observers will visit all districts of the state, meet party workers for their feedback on potential candidates and then submit their report to the party high command,” said Chetan Chauhan, the AICC co-incharge for Himachal.

Chauhan said the appointed observers will be called for a meeting in Delhi shortly, where each of them will be assigned one district each for gathering the feedback. “The entire process will take around 20-25 days to complete,” said Chauhan.

Incidentally, the AICC had appointed observers for the same purpose last year as well after the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) was dissolved on November 6. The observers had visited all districts and blocks at that time and had submitted their report to the high command. “The feedback gathered by the observers at that time has been shared with the newly-appointed observers. They will have a look at it and gather their own feedback as well. The party has given the responsibility to gather the feedback to seasoned leaders,” said Chauhan.

Just like last time, the decision to appoint observers for the selection of the district presidents has not gone down well with the party workers in the state. “We are without an organisation in the state for more than a year now. By appointing observers for the appointment of district presidents yet again, we are going back to where we were a year back,” said a party worker.

Another worker questioned what was the need to have another round of feedback when the exercise has already been done last year? Others pointed out that the new HPCC president was yet to be named and appointing district presidents without his or her consent or feedback would be counterproductive.

Chauhan pointed out that the process for the appointment of the new HPCC chief is over, and just the announcement of the name remains. There’s, however, no clarity yet on when the high command will make that announcement.