The party which boasts of having the maximum number of senior leaders who have contributed in the nation’s freedom struggle has adopted a new culture of taking interviews.
The main reason being that it wishes to distinguish itself from the rest as also to stay on the top as per the guidelines of its GenX leaders.
Hence, beti Priyanka is on the job. She has been visiting her mother Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s Rae Bareli parliamentary constituency regularly and is busy talking to locals so that the Congress can properly structure its units. Just the other day, Priyanka announced that she had, in fact, decided to also include her brother Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s Amethi constituency for revamping and appointing district unit chiefs.
In the last Assembly elections, Rahul had introduced the system of taking interviews and had screened a number of professionals, including doctors and engineers, for selecting candidates for the elections. Many of us even recall how Rahul’s computer savvy friend had loaded all details on the laptop and was fondly called the Ready Reckoner of the Congress since he churned out the background, educational qualifications and experience of each candidate at a click of a mouse.
But it all came to nothing since the party fared badly at the hustings and was virtually on the last rung in the political ladder. The Congress not only lost out on many seats but it fared poorly on its traditional seats like Rae Bareli, Amethi and Sultanpur.
In fact, many of its candidates even lost their deposit. After the severe beating at the last Assembly elections, the party held several meetings to asses what had gone wrong. Then Rahul had owned the responsibility of the defeat after much introspections. Now once again, the Congress has adopted a similar strategy of selecting its district chiefs.
It appears that there is no end to experimentation in the Congress. And this time it is Priyanka at the helm of affairs. Senior Congressmen have become so wary of the Gandhi scion’s focus on the two VVIP seats that they feel that for 10 Janpath, Uttar Pradesh is merely restricted to two parliamentary seats. But the moot question is — Why is the party loosing its seats in the StateIJ
Some partymen say that the the party had failed to take any action against those who were responsible for pulling down the performance despite the fact that it had been identified that these were the men responsible for the party’s dismal performance in the Assembly elections held early last year.
Some party insiders did not hesitate in saying that it will not be surprising if the tainted persons would again be given important postings in the party organisation. Quoting an example a senior leader said it was astonishing that the newly appointed Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) chief is hardly present at the party office to keep tabs on what is happening.
Blame game
Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had consistently being pulling up the State’s bureaucracy for improving their performance. Recently the Chief Minister, while addressing an important meet of entrepreneurs, was explicit in directing the officers that they had better perform or face action in case of any delay in disposing files.
Now, the buzz in the corridors of power is who is responsible for the delay in the passage of files-is it actually the officers or at their senior levelIJ Of course, there were no prizes for the answer since the babus were tight-lipped about the cause of delay.
But a few senior bureaucrats said the the only delay and reason for the files to pile up was on cases where the marking was for discussing the matter or for a dialogue. In some cases it so happened that the discussion could not take place on the scheduled time due to non-availability of the senior officer.
In other cases the delay in the disposal of files was the lackadaisical attitude of the concerned officer. However, the general impression was that the bureaucrats sat on the files for various purposes. Shifting the blame on someone else’s shoulder’s is the easiest solution.
But now, Akhilesh has said that he will not tolerate any more delays. So, the babus had better beware.
BSP scores a point
The BSP is planning to send its senior leaders for the Prime Minister’s dinner as part of the UPA-II celebrations. The move by the BSP is being perceived in political circles as its step forward ahead of the 2014 lok Sabha polls.
Apparently, it is a move to gain proximity to the Congress with an eye on its relations in the post-poll scenario. The BSP’s rivals feel since the Samajwadi Party (SP) chose to stay away from the show simply gave the BSP an opportunity to prove itself to the UPA-II of its plans much in advance.
Speculations in the political circles is that the BSP may be eyeing a tie-up with the Congress after the General Elections. Moreover in the game of oneupmanship between the SP and BSP, the latter appears to have scored a point, at least for the time being, especially since the SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has set his eyes on the Prime Minister’s chair in the 2014 lok Sabha polls.