AICC reshuffle on the cards?

As Congress prepares for the fourth anniversary of UPA-II on May 22, the buzz of a reshuffle in the AICC has once gained momentum.

Top party sources said a reshuffle in the party is "on the cards".

The appointment of eight spokespersons in the first week of this month is seen as a clear indication of changes in AICC coming soon, political analysts said.

Some senior party leaders holding the charge of states have been made spokespersons amid indications that they could be discharged from the responsibility of states soon.

There is a likelihood of doing away with the practice of appointing those leaders as state in-charges, who are not general secretaries, party sources said.

The reshuffle could see a few general secretaries being given the charge of more number of states with the AICC secretaries functioning under them being given additional power in handing the affairs of the respective states allotted to them, they said.

In the last few meetings that Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi had held with party office bearers, a major complaint was that AICC secretaries are not given work by their seniors.

Among the general secretaries who are likely to be shifted out are Bihar and Punjab AICC in-charge Gulchain Singh Charak and Dhani Ram Shandil, who is now Social Justice and Empowerment Minister in the Himachal Pradesh government, sources said.

West Bengal and Jharkhand AICC in-charge Shakeel Ahmed and Mohan Prakash, who is having independent charge of Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir and Gujarat, have already been made party spokespersons.

The general practice in the party for last few years has been that once a leader is promoted as in-charge of some state, he no longer is a spokesperson.

However, a senior AICC functionary said there is "no such hard and fast rule", thereby indicating that some leaders can continue to hold both posts.

Several young Congress MPs and Youth Congress office bearers, groomed by 42-year-old Rahul could get prominent responsibilities in the reshuffle, party sources said.