Pressed Sonia calls party polls

As per the new schedule, which the CEA is already in the process of preparing, the elections would be held at the beginning of next year. The last organisational elections were held during the tenure of former party president Sitaram Kesri.

Organisational elections would be held from the lowest block level to that of the Congress Working Committee, the highest policy-making body of the party. It would also include posts at the district committee and state committee levels, apart from the AICC secretariat at the party headquarters.

Soon after the election results came in, several senior leaders had come out in the open, criticising the functioning of the party and urging for a complete revamp of its organisational structure. Senior leader and party MP had also pleaded for a “generational shift” in the party’s leadership with the induction of young blood.

Following the resignation of several AICC secretaries last week, this is the first concrete step taken by the party in its “introspection” effort to analyse its worst defeat at the hustings.

Meanwhile, agitated party leaders from Bihar, who have been camping in Delhi to pressure the high command to snap ties with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) have been told to hold on till the end of the month when the four remaining Lok Sabha seats in the state go to the polls.

Former state PCC chief Sarfaraz Ahmed told The Indian Express on Thursday that the state unit would campaign for the immediate withdrawal of support to the Rabri Devi Government and breaking off of the electoral alliance with Laloo for the coming Assembly polls.

“We would prefer to have President’s Rule in Bihar and a BJP-appointed governor than have any further truck with Laloo in the state,” a senior state leader remarked.

Party leaders are convinced they would have fared much better in the elections had they fought alone. “There was a complete anti-Laloo wave in the state and even people from his own Yadav community did not vote for him… By allying with him, we finished whatever little prospects the party had,” Ahmed said.

The state unit is also pleading for a complete overhaul of the state leadership, including the dismissal of PCC chief Sadanand Singh.