Five Congress PCCs await chiefs

Even as the Congress is preparing itself for the 2014 general elections, at least five of its state units are waiting for the high command to appoint organisational heads. These units have passed resolutions authorising Congress president Sonia Gandhi to appoint state chiefs.

State Congress chief of Bihar, Mahbub Ali Kaiser, resigned 10 months ago, following the party’s humiliating defeat in the Assembly elections of 2010. The party is yet to find a replacement. The same goes for Goa, where Subhash Shirodkar quit last year after the Congress lost the Assembly election.

Kripashankar Singh resigned as Maharashtra state Congress chief last March following a disproportionate assets case. In Gujarat, party chief Arjun Modhwadia, stepped down after the party’s dismal electoral showing in December. Punjab is another unit where the Congress is waiting for a new chief. Amarinder Singh quit as Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) leader after the party’s defeat in state polls last year.

In Jharkhand, Pradeep Balmuchu, the current PCC chief, is on an “extension” after his second stint ended in November. He has continued to be in place, presumably because the Congress is unable to work out whom to appoint as his successor.

Things are equally bad in Tamil Nadu, where the party has no executives and the president is the only office-bearer.

The Congress is facing several other organisational challenges as several state units, including those where the party is in power, are under the grip of factionalism.

Assembly members and even ministers frequently thumb their noses at party diktats. Earlier this month, Andhra Pradesh PCC chief B Satyanarayana called for a meeting to discuss arrangements for the party’s regional convention held at Vijayawada on January 7. Six ministers didn’t turn up, although the meeting was attended by chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy.