Rahul Gandhi has been trying hard to keep his party on track. Just a few days back he had devised an application form to know about the prospective candidates.
A party whose government is neck deep into scams is talking about accountability now. Party vice president Rahul Gandhi had told state party leaders during his meetings with them that they will be held completelyl accountable for the candidates proposed by them.
Congress chieftans in the five states going to the polls in November-December may not be able to get away with candidates of their choice this time around.
The party has decided that the state chiefs will be made “accountable” for their candidate – including their own relatives – if the person fares disastrously in the polls.
Screening committees, which are vetting the lists of party candidates sent by state units, has been asked to take written information from state chiefs pitching for tickets about their relationship with the candidate proposed by them.
It is expected to be enforced strictly in this round of assembly polls, will also help the party deal with the problem of rebel candidates.
State chieftains, at times, give the go-ahead to their loyalists to contest independently if they fail to get them tickets. The chieftain then tells the party leadership that the rebel candidate is not listening to him and he cannot force him to withdraw. Now, once a leader has recommended names of individuals, he will also be expected to see that they do not contest as independents on being denied the party ticket.
There were about 60 Congressmen who had contested as independents in the last assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh and had undermined the chances of the official nominees.
The party has reformed the process of ticket distribution this time around. Three surveys have been done in each state to check and re-check the winnability of candidates.
Rahul Gandhi has been trying hard to keep his party on track. Just a few days back he had devised an application form to know about the prospective candidates.
He also started a monthly assessment programme which expected the AICC secretaries to give point wise details of the results and outcomes achieved in their role and the processes used to achieve the same. They will also have to mention the states and the areas including the number of District Congress Committees (DCCs) and Block Congress Committees (BCCs) assigned to them.
-with inputs from IANS
