It may be an attempt by the grass roots to rejuvenate the Congress, but suggestions coming from the party workers down the line are even interfering with the personal lives of its top leaders.
During a consultation in the process of drafting suggestions to revamp the party as per the directive of the High Command, a member from Dumka reverted with a novel idea — ‘Marry soon, Rahul’.
“We were surprised to see the column filled by a leader during our division level consultation at Dumka in which he suggested that Rahul Gandhi (party vice-president) now should marry and enter into a ‘grihastha’ life. He went on justify his idea saying that a settled married life is a prerequisite to take a person out of stress and one can focus on his works and duties better,” said a senior Congress leader involved in the process.
As per the directions of the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, all PCCs were to come up with their ideas and suggestions gathered through local level consultations.
The ideas documented by the PCC here have been sent to the AICC for its consideration.
Notably, the all-important AICC meeting is scheduled to take place in April that may also see structural reforms and a complete overhaul of the Congress office-bearers.
In Jharkhand, such meetings were called in all the five divisions of the State and the report was sent to Delhi on February 20. This apart, the draft also included grievances of party men from the State.
“The leaders indicated that the basic units of the party like the NSUI, Youth Congress and the Seva Dal which had supplied raw materials and infused new blood into the party at some point of time have been sidelined. Infusion of election into these organisations has divided and weekend them,” said one leader.
There was also no agreement on going for coalition politics at the Centre and the States. Party workers here think that it further degrades the Congress and the national party becomes the target of regional parties. The JPCC is said to have suffered a lot by going in for a Coalition Government with the JMM.
“The document is also critical of the party leadership which has put its own leaders in the dock after being alleged for corruption or other issues. The workers think that the party should have stood behind the leaders like Shivraj Patil, Shiela Dikshit etc and defended those who have been implicated in the 2G scam or coal scam,” added an insider.
Suggestions for conduct of leaders in public also came for consideration. A host of workers have resented differences getting flagged in public and aired in the media instead of being discussed at party platforms.
The JPCC is the first among State units to revert on the directive to send suggestions meant for revamping the party.