Cong to focus on setting up state executive after Ahmedabad meet

: The Congress is set to form the state executive committee to strengthen the organisation in Uttar Pradesh even as the party leadership has given signals of empowering the District Congress Committees that were reconstituted recently.

If all goes well, the party will shift focus on constituting the state executive after the national convention scheduled in Ahmedabad on April 8 and 9. However, setting up the party units down to the booth level may take some time.

All India Congress Committee general secretary (incharge U.P.) Avinash Pandey had on January 13 announced that a five-tier organisation, including district units and the state executive, will be in place in the next 100 days.

The Congress has already constituted the district units. The 100-day timeline requires the party to set up the new state executive body by the end of April. “Yes, we are in the process of holding consultations with senior party leaders. We hope there will be a discussion and a decision on the new state executive committee after the Ahmedabad convention,” said Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee president Ajay Rai.

Senior party leaders, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, who addressed the new DCC presidents from Uttar Pradesh on the last day of a three-day meeting on Friday, have given signals that the party will now shift focus on strengthening and empowering the organisation at the grassroots levels. The new DCC presidents would be imparted training in booth management, voter list verification and ideological issues, those aware of the development said.

The district leaders would also be involved in the party’s social media campaigns.

Rahul Gandhi has said time and again that the district and other party units are the backbone of the party. He reiterated this again on Friday, telling the DCC presidents that the party would empower them further.

The Congress began its focus on the organisational revamp at the end of 2024. The All-India Congress Committee had dissolved the state party executive along with district and city units on December 5, 2024. The Congress Working Committee adopted a resolution at its meeting at Belagavi, Karnataka, on December 26, 2024, giving signals of rebuilding the party organisation. “The CWC highlights the electrifying impact of the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ (BJY) and the ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ (BJNY) on the entire nation. The idea of launching the BJY originated from the Udaipur Chintan Shivir in May 2022. The extraordinary success of the BJY led to the BJNY. To sustain the momentum generated by these transformative movements, significant reforms within the organization at all levels are imperative. While recognizing that organizational renewal is a continuing process, it must be accelerated and intensified now. The CWC commends the initiative of the Congress president in launching the ‘Sangathan Srajan Karyakram’ which is set to be implemented right away on a priority basis,” read the CWC resolution.

Kharge, addressing the district unit presidents on Friday, gave signals that the party would step up fight against the BJP government. The Congress contested 2024 Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh. But it decided not to contest the by-elections to 10 UP assembly constituencies when the SP refused to give the grand old party the desired number of seats.

So, the Congress would obviously like to strengthen the party organisation and gain some bargaining power if it decides to go it alone in the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.