No lessons learned: AICC in-charge posts in 4 states vacant for 6 months

New Delhi: The Congress appears unwilling to give up its status quoist approach despite repeated electoral setbacks since 2014 as some of its state units have been functioning without a national office bearer for over six months now.

Take for example Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. These states are without in-charges with barely three months remaining for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

It has been nearly seven months that the grand old party has not appointed anyone in-charge either in Tamil Nadu or Maharashtra, the two states that together send 87 lawmakers to the Lok Sabha. While Maharashtra sends the second highest number of 48 members to the Lok Sabha after Uttar Pradesh with 80, Tamil Nadu accounts for 39 of the total 543 constituencies.

The party's previous in-charge of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, Dinesh Gundu Rao, took oath as a minister in Karnataka on May 27 this year and since then the post has been lying vacant. As per a conveniently followed one-person one-post norm, Rao had to give up the organisational responsibilities.

Infighting has already marred the Tamil Nadu unit with several leaders up in arms against present state Congress chief KS Alagiri who has been holding the post for the past five years since February 2019. The absence of an All-India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge has added to the woes of the state unit.

The talk of an organisational restructuring has been going on ever since Mallikarjun Kharge took over as the Congress president in October last year. Kharge has so far not gone for the much-needed overhaul from top to bottom but effected piecemeal changes in the party.

After the party's comprehensive defeats in the just-concluded assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, Kharge is now widely expected to carry out a major organisational reshuffle.

Among the front-runners for Tamil Nadu Congress presidents are Manickam Tagore, CD Meyyappan, Karti P Chidambaram and S Jothimani. While Tagore and Meyyappan have worked both in the AICC and the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) in various capacities, Karti Chidambaram and Jothimani lack organisational experience at the state level.

In Maharashtra, the AICC has not appointed any in-charge after HK Patil resigned from the post following his appointment as a minister in Karnataka on May 27 this year. 

Andhra Pradesh too is without an in-charge after the death of former Kerala chief minister and senior general secretary Oommen Chandy on July 18 this year. The Congress has been reduced to political margins in the residual state of Andhra Pradesh after Telangana was carved out of it in 2014. The people of Andhra Pradesh hold the Congress responsible for the division of the state and have expressed their anger by electorally decimating it in both the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha and assembly polls. Andhra Pradesh has 25 Lok Sabha constituencies. 

Similarly in West Bengal with 42 Lok Sabha seats, the Congress has an interim in-charge in A Chella Kumar who was given an additional charge of the state along with Odisha on January 1 last year, days after the then incumbent Jitin Prasada joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The Congress has often faced flak for prolonging its organisational restructuring as compared to the BJP which has in recent years developed into a well-oiled election-winning machine by putting in place a fast-paced decision-making system and constantly evolving comprehensive poll strategies. 

Unless the grand old party gives up its status quoist approach and rebuilds its organisation, the battle against fighting fit BJP is going to be one-sided.