Rahul Gandhi8217;s man,young,Dalit Ashok Choudhary has a lot on plate

Choudhary,who is emerging the partys young,modern face,replaces Choudhary Mehboob Ali Qaisar. The hopefuls had included former PCC chiefs Ramjatan Sinha,Sadanand Singh and Chandan Bagchi,veterans Awadhesh Singh,Ashok Kumar and Premchand Mishra,and a few seniors inducted from other parties,such as Akhilesh Singh,Sadhu Yadav and Ranjit Ranjan. Rahul interviewed over one-and-a-half dozen potential candidates.

Choudhary is the youngest PCC chief in three decades. His caste identity fits him into the Congresss scheme of using a Dalit/OBC/minority-youth combination to counter Nitish Kumars model,as well as Lalu Prasads Muslim-Yadav and Ramvilas Paswans Muslim-SC models. Nitishs inclusive model of social engineering revolves around the concept of Mahadalits,an expansion of the constituency of Dalits into one that comprises 21 scheduled castes and extremely backward castes.

Choudhary is the first Dalit leader to head the PCC since Dumar Lal Baitha 25 years ago. The last three presidents reflected a policy of rotation Qaisar is a Muslim,Anil Sharma an upper caste Bhumihar,and Sadanand Singh an OBC member.

Fluent in Hindi and English,Choudhary studied at Patna University and holds a doctorate in political science,apart from a law degree. He hails from Gaya and is now settled in Patna. His father,Mahavir Choudhary,had served as a Congress minister in Bihar. Ashok,who began from the Youth Congress,was minister of state for prisons in the RJD-Congress government after winning the Barbigha Shekhpura seat in 2000.

In later elections,he won in February 2005 and lost in November that year. In 2009,he contested the Jamui Lok Sabha seat and lost. Just ahead of that election,he had been made PCC vice-president under Anil Sharma.

I cannot thank Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi enough for entrusting me with such a big responsibility, Choudhary said of the latest elevation. Strengthening the organisation is my priority,with help of all senior leaders. I firmly believe the Congress still has a good base in Bihar and it is up to us to bring it to the fore with hard work.

He would not discuss the possibility of discontent and seniors putting up stumbling blocks. A senior leader said,His toughest test will be forming the PCC executive. It will be interesting to see how he and AICC bosses accommodate or leave out disgruntled elements,mainly veterans with big egos. Maintaining a caste and regional balance with a thrust on youth will be the test.

Sadanand Singh,now legislature party leader,welcomed Choudhary. We welcome the elevation of a young leader to the top job. We hope he will meet the expectations of top leaders and seek the cooperation of seniors.

Among Choudharys challenges will be handling leaders such as Sadhu Yadav bother-in-law of Lalu Prasad,Lovely Anand wife of jailed former MP Anand Mohan and Ranjit Ranjan wife of jailed former MP Pappu Yadav. Having crossed over from Lalu and Paswans parties,they have been seeking their pound of flesh. On Sunday,the AICCs G S Charak,in charge of Bihar,ran into opposition when he named these leaders for the partys coordination committee.

Choudharys tasks will also include forming a working committee that can implement at least AICC-sponsored programmes.

We should take heart from the fact that a youth is in charge of galvanising the party, AICC member Umakant Singh said. Rahul Gandhis vision is clearly reflected in Choudharys appointment. We now can at least hope for a flurry of activities at Sadakat Ashram the PCC office.