Priyanka Gandhi will select Cong block presidents in Rae Bareli

After making changes in the office set-up in her mother Sonia Gandhi's Lok Sabha constituency Rae Bareli, Priyanka Gandhi is next going to select presidents of all 15 block Congress units in the district as part of the reorganisation. Panels of three names for each of the 15 blocks have already been sent to her.

A senior party leader said Priyanka would interview all those named in the panels and select the block presidents. She was likely to visit Rae Bareli some time in the second half of October, the leader said.

Following poor performance of the party in the Assembly elections, when the Congress could not win a single seat in Rae Bareli, the party had decided to take up reorganisation of the district unit, starting from the block committee level. A committee of observers, candidates who had lost the election, AICC and state Congress committee members from the district was formed to undertake the exercise.

"We are starting with block committees. Forms were collected and observers have interviewed the candidates. Panels of three names have been formed in consultation with former MLAs, PCC members, AICC members from the district. These panels have been sent to Priyanka Gandhi," said a party leader.

There are 15 development blocks in Rae Bareli. There were allegations of sabotage by party cadres during Assembly elections, while party workers complained that their leaders did not know even block presidents who had been grassroots workers of the party for long.

After the appointment of block presidents, the next step in the reorganisation would be reconstitution of nyaya panchayat level committees, which are about 135 in number, and then about 650 gram sabha committees in the district.

"We have been told that each of these committees would have 11 members, thus we are targeting at a well identified cadre of about 50,000 people in the district after the exercise is completed," said a party leader.

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