Patel to restructure party in both urban, rural areas

Will convene meetings of district & block presidents today, tomorrow

Raipur, May 16, 2011

The PCC president Nandkumar Patel has decided to restructure the party in both urban and rural areas for which he would convene meetings of the presidents of district and block committees on Tuesday and Wednesday.

After Bastar by-election debacle, Patel is completely shocked and unable to find reasons for the defeat. This was the first time that the party had shown united effort any election in the past seven years. Till recently, the party was fragmented due to unruly factions, but with two-pronged change in the state unit, i.e. appointment of AICC general secretary BK Hariprasada as Chhattisgarh Congress general secretary incharge and Patel as new PCC chief, the workers looked reinvigorated in the Bastar by-poll.

Patel wants to keep the spirit of unity alive among the workers for which he is likely to ask the district and block presidents to intensify party activities in their respective regions by delegating assignments to every worker, informed sources.

He is further upset with the party’s diminishing presence in both urban and rural areas for which he would also urge the district and block representatives to launch membership drives to increase Congress workers at ground level.

His meetings with the district and block presidents is also significant because he had recently hinted to replace many existing faces with the newer ones. Through meeting, he would assess whether to stick to his earlier decision or to give another opportunity to the ones who are in his target list.

On Tuesday, he will meet the heads of district and block committees of five districts – Bilaspur (Urban and Rural), Janjgir-Champa, Korba (Urban and Rural), Kanker and Dhamtari from 1-3 pm. He will spend about 30 minutes with the representatives of each district.

On May 18, he will meet the presidents of district and block committees of five other districts – Raipur (Urban and Rural), Mahasamund, Kabirdham, Durg (Urban and Rural) and Rajnandgaon (Urban and Rural) from 1-4:30 pm.