Gearing up for its pilot project to strengthen the District Congress Committees (DCCs), as decided during the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting held earlier this week, senior party leader Rahul Gandhi will return to Gujarat on April 15 and 16 to mentor the process of the reorganisation, which will be held in Modasa in Aravalli district.
On Saturday, the Congress announced names of 41 All-India Congress Committee (AICC) and Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) observers to oversee the appointment of the presidents for these units. Each district will have a panel of five, which will be replicated in its DCCs across the country.
The list of PCC observers appointed also includes multiple members from political families, including the son of former chief minister Shankersinh Vaghela, Mahendrasinh. The former Congress MLA had quit the party following his father in 2017 only to return ahead of the 2022 assembly elections, which he contested and lost. Vaghela launched the Praja Shakti Democratic Party (PSDP) last year which claims to be an alternative to both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress.
“The entire process will be done in the presence of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi who will be in Gujarat on Monday and Tuesday,” said GPCC president Shaktisinh Gohil.
“A nine-member committee under AICC general secretary Mukul Wasnik was formed to study how the district committees across the country could be strengthened and based on its recommendation, this exercise is being carried out,” said Gohil in a video statement.
Each of the AICC observers will be assisted by four PCC observers whose appointment also followed a guideline, to include members of the party’s political affairs committee, MLAs, MPs, former DCC or PCC presidents, former leaders of opposition in local bodies, former mayors and so on.
The list of 183 PCC observers includes former Congress MLA Indranil Rajyaguru who returned to the parent fold after a stint in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), former MP Amarsinh Z Chaudhary and his son and ex-MLA Siddharth, former MLA Virji Thummar along with his daughter and former Mahila morcha president Jenny, former AMC corporator Surendra Baxi and his son Nirav, and former Rajya Sabha MP Amee Yagnik, among others.
