Cong agitation against govt on paddy bonus in December

General secretaries get more teeth, get authority to take decision on their assigned Lok Sabha areas

Raipur, November 16, 2011

The Congress will launch massive agitation against the government on paddy bonus in December. A decision in this regard was taken by the party during a meeting convened by PCC president Nandkumar Patel at Congress Bhawan on Wednesday. The meeting was attended by PCC vice presidents and general secretaries.

Patel said the government deceived farmers by not distributing Rs 270 per quintal paddy bonus to them. Considering the status of bonus distribution in last four years, the government owes Rs 760 per quintal bonus to the farmers in this period,” he said.

Patel asked the general secretaries to convene intense meetings in their assigned Lok Sabha (LS) constituencies regarding agitation.

He also gave free hand to these LS incharges to take decision on their respective areas after holding discussions with party’s local MLAs, former MLAs, public representatives and senior leaders.

He further instructed the LS incharges to constitute Block Congress Committees (BCCs) by November 30. Notably, the presidents, vice presidents and treasurers of all the BCCs have already been appointed. Patel said the remaining office-bearers of all the BCCs should be nominated after evolving consensus. If dispute occurs during nomination, the constitution of specific BCCs should be kept pending, he added.

Patel urged the LS incharges to frequently tour their assigned areas and conduct meetings to consolidate the party and expand its domain.

According to information, Patel is likely to convene another meeting of LS incharges on November 25 or 26. In this meeting, the names of the office-bearers of all the BCCs would be announced.

For better coordination and implementation of party plans, he said he would convene meetings of the office-bearers fortnightly.

Patel also discussed about organisational activities with PCC vice presidents. He has not yet delegated responsibilities to the vice presidents. Usually, the party rarely gives significant tasks to its state vice presidents but Patel wants to change the tradition and ensure active participation of all the key office-bearers. It is learnt that he would assign jobs to the vice presidents according to their interest.