Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi puts performance of 8 PCC presidents under scanner

NEW DELHI: A day after AICC changed PCC presidents in five states, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is learnt to have placed the performance of eight of his handpicked PCC presidents under scanner. Sources said the future of around five of them looked shaky. The move comes amid many PCC presidents’ performance and conduct facing increasing internal resistance.

According to sources, this was Gandhi’s way of reaching out to senior leaders, indicating his readiness to be "reasonably flexible and pragmatic" before taking over as party president. The ongoing PCC appointments also advertises Gandhi progressively giving up his obsession for office-bearers elected through "democratic organisational elections."

While the decision to remove Punjab PCC chief PS Bhajwa – one of the first Rahul-handpicked appointments – has already been taken, other PCC leaders’ whose performance has now been placed under review are Arun Yadav (MP), Ashok Tanwar (Haryana), G Parameswara (Karnataka), Nirmal Khatri (UP), Ashok Chowdhary (Bihar), Sachin Pilot (Rajasthan) and VM Sudheeran (Kerala).

While some of them will lose their chairs others will be asked to establish working ties with senior party leaders in their states in what is seen as a "shake-up and make-up season" in Congress leadership .

Amid Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan being increasingly targeted over recruitment scam, there is a feeling that the PCC should have a more-experienced and popular leader. While Tanwar is facing serious opposition from the Hooda camp in Haryana, his inability to command the confidence of anti-Hooda senior leaders too have become glaring.

In Karnataka, Parameswar is about to get the marching orders and in UP, Nirmal Khatri’s mettle to lead the Congress into next year’s state election is being increasingly questioned. Bihar Congress leaders are up in arms against PCC chief Ashok Chowdhary as he plays the "Dalit card" to hold on, especially given "the Manjhi factor in poll-bound Bihar politics.

Pilot is relatively better placed, given Rajasthan Congress has won some by-polls and put up a good show in civic elections even though he may have to smoothen the working relation with Ashok Gehlot and CP Joshi. Though Sudheeran’s ‘anti-liquor polemics’ has already cornered him in Kerala’s factional Congress, AICC may give him time provided he emerges as a team player along with Ommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala. AICC is also on the look out for a credible leadership in Jharkhand Congress.