2 months on, Cong revival programme yet to begin

Two months after the announcement of its ambitious programme to rejuvenate its block and district units, the Congress today had to call all ...

Two months after the announcement of its ambitious programme to rejuvenate its block and district units, the Congress today had to call all its state unit chiefs to push them to start working on it. According to AICC sources, while some states are already working on it, many are still to start.

Announced soon after the party block presidents’ meet in March, which envisaged a series of conventions of block and district level workers and appointment of new office-bearers to these units, the programme is yet to take off at a country-wide level. ‘‘This is a massive programme and has to be monitored regularly to remove the road-blocks. Uniformity and speed across the country cannot be expected in its implementation,’’ said a senior AICC functionary.

Party functionaries point out that the reshuffle of the AICC office-bearers also delayed the programme. The programme envisaged all secretary-level partymen to start the programme in their states. However, uncertainty following the reshuffle over who would supervise which state, disrupted the programme.

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Now each PCC chief has been given a form to fill up on exactly how many block, district and state level meetings are being held, and which leaders would attend it.

At the PCC chiefs meeting today, party leaders stressed the need to follow the Manmohan Singh Committee pattern for collection of funds. Each state is requied to meet its targeted finance collections through AICC delegates, Congress members and others. They have also been asked to provide details of number of members enrolled over the years.

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