The Delhi Congress is likely to be reconstituted during the coming festival season. The party is also in the process of announcing the names of its 14 district and 280 block presidents before Diwali. After its drubbing in the Assembly and lok Sabha elections about a year-and-a-half ago, the Congress had dissolved its pradesh, district and block units in the national Capital. Except for the appointment of former Union Minister Ajay Maken as the Delhi Congress president, the party had not reconstituted any of its local units.
According to sources, Maken had asked its former district and block heads to function on their respective posts on an ad-hoc basis till the names of new heads were finalised by the party.
Sources said the appointment of the block presidents had become a prestigious issue within the Congress as there is a serious thinking going on in the party that all the newly-appointed block chiefs would be given tickets to contest the municipal elections, which are scheduled to take place in 2017. The party’s thrust while appointing the block presidents would be to give maximum participation to the youth, women, SC/ST and candidates who belong to other economically weaker sections of the society.
A Delhi Congress functionary said on the condition of anonymity that Maken had asked its former district and block heads to function on their respective posts on an ad-hoc basis till the names of new heads were finalised by the party.
The party had appointed five observers in each district to select the candidates for the post of district and block presidents. A source said that the observers have already submitted their reports to Maken and party’s in-charge of Delhi affairs PC Chacko. “Wherever there was unanimity among the observers on certain names, they have already been included in the new organisational set up. But serious deliberations are going on in cases where names of more than one candidate have been recommended by the observers.”
“There are 14 districts and 280 blocks for which new heads would be appointed during the coming festival season,” a senior local leader told The Pioneer. “The names for both district and block presidents have almost been finalised. It is only a matter of time when their names would be officially announced by the party.” Another Congress functionary said that due to factionalism in the pradesh Congress, the party is unable to mobilise workers and boost the morale of party workers.