Command performance

Preparations are afoot for another investiture ceremony8212;this time to credit AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi with conceptualising and sending the aam aadmi ka sipahi common man8217;s soldier to carry out social audits of the flagship programmes of the UPA Government in each panchayat of the country. The Indian Youth Congress IYC is planning to organise a gala show to launch the programme. Senior Congress leaders are, as expected, going gaga over how Rahul8217;s soldiers would rejuvenate the party at the grassroots level. Only that the idea, including the term aam aadmi ka sipahi, had already been implemented in Assam by the state Youth Congress long before Rahul took charge of the IYC. In May 2007, it had been announced in Guwahati that the party8217;s soldiers had fanned out to thousands of panchayats in Assam to ensure more beneficiaries under the NREGS. Incidentally, it was Rahul who also got the credit for the extension of the NREGS to all districts of the country. The UPA Government announced the expansion after Rahul led a delegation to meet the Prime Minister. The Government had actually finished all the plans to expand the scheme and it was only a matter of announcement when Rahul had come calling.