All India Congress Committee (AICC) has appointed the coordinator of the Lok Sabha constituency Bhind-Datia of Gwalior Chambal region to the party's Madhya Pradesh unit spokesperson Swadesh Sharma under its 'Leadership Development Mission' (LDM) programme.
The AICC on Friday late evening announced a list, appointing the coordinators for 50 Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe reserved Lok Sabha constituencies of the country under the recently launched LDM, a leadership development campaign.
Sharma is considered an effective spokesperson of the MP unit of Congress in party organisation and has a deep hold among the people of the Bhind-Datia Parliamentary constituency.
"The AICC has approved the proposal for the appointment of Leadership Development Mission (LDM) Parliament coordinators for the SC/ST reserved Parliament Constituencies with immediate effect", the letter stated, issued by the Congress general secretary for the organisation, KC Venugopal.
Apart from the appointment of senior leader Sharma as coordinator for the Bhind-Datia parliamentary constituency, Congress has also assigned the coordinators for SC/ST reserved seats Betul, Tikamgarh, Shahdol, Mandla, Ratlam, Dhar, Khargone, Dewas and Ujjain. Congress had been in the second position in these seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Under the LDM, Congress is focusing on the 50 reserved seats out of 131 reserved for SC/ST across the country where the party came second in the previous Lok Sabha polls. Congress has taken this decision keeping in mind the upcoming General elections due in next year.
According to sources, party leader K Raju, who is considered a close associate of party former chief Rahul Gandhi, looks after the LDM campaign, while party president Mallikarjun has taken the programme as the 'top priority'.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Congress could not win a single seat reserved for the SC/ST in Madhya Pradesh but it came second in 8 constituencies. A total of 10 Lok Sabha seats out of the total 29 constituencies are reserved for the communities in the state.
The coordinators will find out suitable candidates for these seats and campaign for the party ideology. They will also strengthen the party cadre and mobilise the party workers, party sources also said.