Sonia announces forming political advisory group, task force on organisation reforms

The Congress president adds a compact task force will be set up to drive process of internal reforms that are essential

Sonia Gandhi with senior Congress leaders at Chintan Shivir: PTI Picture

TT Bureau, PTI   |   Udaipur   |   15.05.22  : Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Sunday announced forming an advisory group from among CWC members which would meet regularly to discuss political matters, but asserted it was "not a collective decision-making body" and would help her get the benefit of vast experience of senior colleagues.

The Congress president also announced that a compact task force will be set up to drive the process of internal reforms that are essential.

These reforms with a focus on the 2024 Lok Sabha polls will cover all aspects of the organisation, including structure, rules for appointments to party posts, communications and publicity, outreach, finances and election management, Gandhi said in her concluding remarks at the party's 'Nav Sankalp Chintan Shivir' here.

The composition of the task force will be notified in the next two-three days, she said.

"I feel it has been a very useful and productive 'shivir'. So many of you have had an opportunity to express your views and offer your suggestions in a spirit of constructive participation. I have received a summary of discussions in each of the six groups. They will inform our party positions, policies and programmes, Gandhi said.

They will also be of value to prepare manifestos for state and national elections, she added.

"I want to make a special mention of the report of the organisational group since it is the most immediately relevant. Some of its ideas have formed part of the 'Udaipur Nav Sankalp Declaration' that has just been adopted. I assure you that the detailed recommendations of the group will be acted upon expeditiously," she asserted.

"We will undoubtedly leave re-energised with a refreshed spirit of collective purpose, she said.

Highlighting some specific announcements, Gandhi said the party will launch a 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' (Unite India March) from Kanyakumari to Kashmir beginning on Gandhi Jayanti this year.

"All of us will participate in it. The yatra is to strengthen the bonds of social harmony that are under stress, to preserve the foundational values of our Constitution that are under assault and to highlight the day-to-day concerns of crores of our people, she said.

The phase two of the district-level 'Jan Jagran Abhiyan' that had been launched earlier will resume on June 15, Gandhi said.

This extensive campaign will highlight economic issues, especially growing unemployment and intolerable price rise that are destroying livelihoods, she said.

"I have also decided to have an advisory group drawn from the CWC (Congress Working Committee) that would meet regularly under my chairpersonship to discuss and deliberate upon political issues and challenges before our party. Of course, we do have the CWC that meets from time to time and that will continue," Gandhi said.

She, however, said the new group is not a collective decision-making body but will help her get the benefit of the vast experience of senior colleagues.

The Congress also announced wide-ranging organisational reforms to make the party battle-ready for the next round of assembly and Lok Sabha polls, stressing on wider representation to those under 50 years of age and enforcing 'one person, one post' and 'one family, one ticket' rules with riders.

In its Udaipur Declaration adopted after deliberations at the 'Nav Sankalp Chintan Shivir', the Congress also decided to set up three new departments -- public insight, election management and national training. The party announced enforcing the one family, one ticket' rule with exception to be made only when another family member has been working in the party for at least five years.

The party also decided that no person should hold one party position for more than five years to give opportunity to new people.

The party has also decided to provide 50 per cent representation to those below 50 years of age at all levels of organisation.

The Congress president will set up an advisory group from among Congress Working Committee (CWC) members to deliberate on political challenges, the party announced.

The Congress held the three-day conclave in Udaipur in the backdrop of a string of electoral defeats and dissent in the party for the past many years.

Rahul Gandhi speaks at Chintan Shivir: Twitter/@INCIndia

Acknowledging that the Congress' connection with people has been broken , Rahul Gandhi announced on Sunday that the party will undertake a yatra in October to re-establish and strengthen it.

He also laid emphasis on the "one family, one ticket" rule to ensure that multiple members of one family do not contest polls without working for the party.

Addressing the closing session of the party's three-day Nav Sankalp Chintan Shivir' here, Gandhi said, We have to accept that the Congress' connection with the people has been broken.

Our fight is for ideology. We have to go to the people and sit with them, the connection the party had with people has to be re-established, he said.

We have decided that the Congress party in October will got to people and take out a yatra and strengthen the relation...with people. This cannot happen with short-cuts, he said.

Hailing the frank discussions at the Shivir, Gandhi said which other political party would allow this kind of a discussion where the party leadership is bluntly told what the Congress party feels.

Certainly, the BJP, and RSS would never allow such a thing, he said.