Cong set to replace PCC chiefs in Punjab,Maharashtra,UP,Haryana

Among the PCC chiefs who will be replaced,said sources,are Pradeep Balmuchu of Jharkhand,Phool Chand Mulana of Haryana,Manikrao Thakre of Maharashtra,Amarinder Singh of Punjab,Yashpal Arya of Uttarakhand,and Botcha Satyanarayana of Andhra Pradesh.

The Congress high command is also in the process of appointing replacements for Bihar and Uttar Pradesh PCC chiefs,Mehboob Aki Qaiser and Rita Bahuguna Joshi respectively,who had tendered their resignations following the party’s debacle in the Assembly elections in these states. The post of Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MRCC) chief has also been lying vacant since the resignation of Kripashankar Singh Singh last February.

There could be a change of guard in the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee also if the state unit chief,Pradip Bhattacharya,gets a berth in the Union Council of Ministers in the next reshuffle which is expected to take place in the second week of September.

Following Pranab Mukherjee’s election as President of India,the party is looking to induct another leader from the state in the Union Cabinet. West Bengal Youth Congress chief and niece of late A B A Ghani Khan Choudhury,Mausam Noor,was learnt to have already conveyed to the high command that she would prefer to work for the party. This has brought her uncle,Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury,MP from Maldaha Dakshin,in the reckoning for a ministerial post at the Centre.

Amid growing resentment in the Indian Youth Congres (IYC) about the continuance of “non-elected” and “over-aged” office-bearers despite the completion of the first round of elections in all the states,the IYC leadership has been lobbying with senior party leaders to accommodate them in the parent party. For instance,IYC wants general secretary Jothimani Sennimalai to be appointed Tamil Nadu Mahila Congress president.

While over a dozen former state YC presidents and senior office-bearers have already been appointed PCC general secretaries,there is a renewed thrust to accommodate others to bring in youth in PCCs. A section of the Congress is,however,resentful of the move. They contend that family members of veteran leaders had managed to be elected as YC office-bearers in most of the states in the first round of elections,and their appointment as senior office-bearers in the PCC and AICC means the continuance of dynastic politics in the party.