Cong banks upon Surjewala-led team to 'revive' party in Bihar
New Delhi: Under the pressure to 'revive' the political fortunes of Congress in Bihar assembly elections, the party has deployed its central leadership to lead the show in the state as of the 70 seats allotted to the Grand Old party under the seat sharing agreement, the Congress has not won 45 seats in the last two decades.
The party's newly appointed general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala has taken the command to handle the campaigning strategies for the electioneering in Bihar. Surjewala, who is considered as a trusted lieutenant of Rahul Gandhi, has been tasked to improve the performance of the party, which is in dying state.
As per political experts, it's for the first time that the All India Congress Committee (AICC), the party's central unit, has taken the complete charge of the poll management and preparations during any state election. As per party leaders, earlier the AICC used to suggest various initiatives that were implemented by the state units.
Hailing the decision, a senior Congress leader of Bihar unit said, "No doubt, it raises questions over the leadership capabilities of state leadership, but in long term this will help in the revival of the party as a national party's performance is now dependent on regional parties."
According to party insiders, the decision to deploy central leaders was taken after the allegations of irregularities in the selection of party candidates had surfaced.
The protests over the offer of tickets to "tainted and incompetent" leaders in the first list prompted former Congress president Rahul Gandhi to step in to damage the control by forming six panels to oversee the party's preparations for the upcoming polls. The state unit of Congress leaders were upset over tghe denial of tickets to leaders like Abha Singh, Nawada district unit chief, Kesar Singh, Tarun Kumar, Jai Prakash Choudhary, Rashid Fakhri and Sanyogita Singh.
Surjewala is looking after the election management and coordination committee as its head with former general secretary Mohan Prakash as its convenor while spokesperson Pawan Khera is the in-charge of the media panel. Also, the party has appointed Sanjeev Singh – who hails from Patna –to assist Khera.
However, Bihar Congress president Madan Mohan Jha, Congress legislature party leader Sadanand Singh and Rajya Sabha member Akhilesh Prasad Singh, against whom state leaders revolted, were kept out of these committees.
Besides these, seven AICC secretaries –Jitender Baghel, Sudhir Sharma, Chella Vamshi Chand Reddy, Gurkirat Singh Kotli, Mahendra Joshi, Qazi Mohammad Nizamuddin and Rajesh Dharmani –have also been deployed in Bihar to help the central team.
A war room has also been set up in Patna, which is headed by former Jharkhand unit president Dr Ajoy Kumar, who rejoined the party after spending about a year in Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
