Rahul's coterie to go: Cong expansion plans have no room for 'non-political' advisors

New Delhi: In the status quoist Congress it is hard to predict when, and whether, drastic changes on the lines of the BJP will ever take place.

However, the party’s humiliating defeat in the general elections and successive defeats in the states have drilled into the party’s consciousness that the current state of affairs cannot be allowed to continue. It is planning a revamp, although when it materialises is anybody’s guess. The core to the overhaul plan is building a connect with the masses and the elimination of people without grassroots connect from the decision-making process.

Talking to Firstpost, three senior leaders of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) indicated that the party would soon set in motion a “comprehensive exercise” of reorganising the party structure. These changes would include “introduction of new faces with people’s connect, removal of non-political advisors who belong to Team Rahul, elimination of the second line of command and restoring the confidence of the public in the party”.

“At present, there are two centres of command - Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi - in the party. Those who assist Madam Gandhi are seasoned politicians. But some people around Rahulji are non-political. They lack experience and are immature in political matters. The party is planning to remove the second line of command which is with the Congress vice president,” said one of the leaders.

But rubbishing the allegation of the failure of the leadership of Rahul, who had spearheaded the Lok Sabha campaign, he said that “the debacle was the result of a range of factors, including a series of corruption charges, infighting, faulty ticket distribution, communal polarisation, an aggressive campaign by Narendra Modi and biased media reporting”.

At the same time, he admitted Rahul still needs to learn how to put himself in order. “He jumped into the well of the House to demand a debate on communal violence but kept mum when the bill was brought before the House; he criticized the Speaker for not allowing a debate on price rise but was spotted sleeping while the issue was being discussed,” said the leader.

What the party needs at this juncture is the “restoration of people’s confidence” and “development of ground-level leadership”, said another leader revealing that “madam (Sonia Gandhi) is easily accessible but Rahul is not. Soon, you will see new leaders in the party’s Central Working Committee (CWC) with grassroots connections. It will help the party re-connect with the people,” added another.

“With an aim to revive the party, all MPs and workers have been instructed to hit the streets and homes of ordinary Indians across the country to re-connect with the people and strengthen the grassroots connections. She (Sonia Gandhi) has also asked all spokespersons to defend the party strongly in the media and work aggressively in different public forums throughout the country,” he said.

He admitted that the party cadres were ignored and the blunder reduced the party to 44 seats in the Lok Sabha. “It is true that party cadres were ignored and leaders became completely inaccessible to the foot soldiers but we are making efforts to reach out to the party workers and restore confidence in them. Efforts are on to improve coordination between cadres and the party,” he added.

When asked why the Congress has come on the back foot and appears nowhere, the third leader said, “Because of the magnitude of the defeat we faced, our sprit and moral have gone down. And therefore, the party play the role of a vigilant Opposition.”

But, he said, the party has realised that politics these days cannot be done by raising the issue of poor and on the basis of communalism and secularism binary. “This is a strong government with an overwhelming public support. We cannot regain people’s confidence by merely making public statements against Narendra Modi or the BJP. We need a strategy and foolproof plan to corner the government in Parliament and other public forums. The party has started working on it,” he said.

“Wait and watch. Situation will change in the days to come,” he hoped.