‘Much-delayed’ AICC reshuffle likely soon

Speculation of an impending AICC reshuffle in the coming weeks has begun in party circles. The party high command has been delaying this exercise for nearly last two years for different reasons.

“We are expecting this exercise to be undertaken in the next two to three weeks irrespective of the outcome of five Assembly elections,” said an informed source, adding that “it is likely to be a mixed team”.

The organisation cannot be handed over to juniors simply because they are energetic, sources said while drawing attention to how the seniors had delivered in the Uttarakhand crisis.

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has replaced some PCC presidents, including in Punjab, Maharashtra, West Bengal and other states, after the party’s defeat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, but went on postponing the reconstitution of her team in the AICC perhaps because she felt it was not the right time politically. Now the party has to gear up for a straight fight with the BJP in Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Goa next year, besides Uttar Pradesh and Punjab where it will have to take on the BJP and regional parties. After that come Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. Therefore, changes in the AICC and PCCs are inevitable, they said.

Poll strategist Prashant Kishor has been pressing for a change of guard in the the Uttar Pradesh Congress in the election year, cautioning that the status-quo strategy could harm the party further. The names of Mr Kamal Nath and Mr Jyotiraditya Scindia are doing the rounds to lead the party in Madhya Pradesh. In Bihar, party leaders are pressing for a change in the PCC under the one man, one post norm because the current PCC chief, Ashok Chaudhary, is a minister in the Nitish Kumar government.

Maharashtra is perhaps the only state where the Congress could be revived due to a growing fight between the ruling partners — BJP and Shiv Sena — but the Aadarsh case is weakening PCC chief Ashok Chavan.

“The Congress and NCP can defeat the BJP in the triangular fight if they come together,” they said. The Congress has not won a single state on its own after 2014 .