'Lame horses need to retire': Rahul Gandhi launches campaign to revive Congress in BJ
'Lame horses need to retire': Rahul Gandhi launches campaign to revive Congress in BJP-ruled MP
M.U.H
04/06/202532
BHOPAL: Demanding that 'lame horses' in the Madhya Pradesh Congress retire, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi launched the Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan (Organisation Rejuvenation Campaign) on Tuesday to rebuild the party in the BJP-ruled state.
“Congress has no dearth of talent who can defeat the BJP, but their hands are tied, particularly as their voices aren’t heard properly in the party organization. We’ve an army to fight and die for the Congress’s cause. But some leaders keep on making irresponsible utterances. Some speak out of frustration, while some other elements do it as they are also working for the BJP,” Gandhi said while addressing the state party convention after launching the Organization Rejuvenation Campaign in Bhopal.
He hinted at minimising the role of inactive and jaded leaders and promoting the most active, young and committed ones in the party’s organization in the state, where it suffered two successive drubbings in the 2023 assembly and 2024 national elections. “The time has come to identify and segregate race, marriage and lame horses. The race horses will be promoted and the marriage horses will be set aside for ‘marriages’,” he said.
“The lame horses need to retire now, have fodder, water and relax and stop disturbing the race horses. If they continue disturbing, action is imminent,” Gandhi said in a clear warning to non-performing and jaded leaders, particularly the saboteurs.
Detailing the campaign which has already been launched in Gujarat, he said, “Through the campaign, the party’s rebuilding is being started from individual district level. The exercise in Gujarat has led to two lists in each district -- one of potential district party chiefs and the other of existing district party presidents. Many existing district party chiefs were actually assistants of senior leaders, while the other list contained leaders for the future. We will replicate the same process in MP also.”
Gandhi’s statements assumed significance due to statements by some party leaders, including state leader of opposition Umang Singhar and ex-minister PC Sharma, about the presence of saboteurs working for the BJP within the party. Also, it could be a clear-cut warning to leaders like ex-MP and former MLA Laxman Singh (ex-CM Digvijaya Singh) who has been regularly embarrassing the party by speaking against its official line.
“This campaign will start from district level in the first phase based on the report submitted by the AICC observers for individual districts. Based on that report, 55 leaders (district chiefs of 55 districts) will be chosen for the party's and MP’s future. In the subsequent phases, the same process will be initiated to select the best leaders at individual block, village panchayat and local body level,” he said.
“After being selected as new district party committee chiefs, the new leaders’ performance will be measured objectively on various counts, including increase in party’s vote in future elections (local bodies, assembly and parliamentary polls), their ability to fight on ground for deprived sections and Congress ideology and take everyone, particularly young leaders and workers along, rather than furthering their own politics,” Gandhi maintained.
He, however, added that accountability cannot come without power. “After being chosen to head the party in districts, the new district party chiefs will have a voice in the selection of candidates for local bodies, assembly and national elections. The doors of the party’s top leadership in Delhi will always be open to them,” Gandhi said, clearly hinting towards actual decentralization of power in the state party’s organization to individual district level.
Before addressing the state party convention, Gandhi chaired a series of meetings with the state party’s political affairs committee (PAC), MLAs and ex-MPs, 61 AICC observers appointed by the party for the state-wide campaign in each district and AICC and PCC delegates.
In the meeting with MLAs and ex-MPs, an MLA from Rewa district Abhay Mishra (who was previously in the BJP) reportedly raised the issue of dearth of leaders in the party at the state level. Gandhi responded by saying, “I can name at least 10 leaders sitting here, who have the potential to lead the party in the state.”
Briefing about the Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan after Gandhi’s departure from Bhopal, the state party leadership, including party chief Jitu Patwari and AICC general secretary in-charge Harish Chaudhary, said, “AICC has sent to MP 61 observers under the campaign, which was launched on pilot scale in Gujarat. The observers will work from June 10 to June 30, when each of them joined by three state party leaders will spend at least seven days in one district. Based on their deliberations with local party leaders, workers and commoners, they will send reports to the party leadership, based on which new district party chiefs will be chosen. The same experiment will be replicated in subsequent phases in individual assembly segments till gram panchayat and local ward level.”
