Rahul Gandhi set to tour Gujarat districts, meet new Congress DCC presidents at their homes

New Delhi: After the recent 'Gujarat pilot project' for the experimental appointments of district Congress committee (DCCs) presidents aimed at "decentralisation" of the party's organisational work, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) and the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) are now working on a programme of Rahul Gandhi touring all districts of the state. This includes a plan of him, during these trips, establishing a "personal connect" with the new DCC presidents by visiting their homes and sharing a meal with their family members "to get to know better" these local party leaders' personal backgrounds, it is learnt.

The latest pet project of Team Rahul called 'Sangathan Srijan Abhiyaan', as reported earlier, saw AICC naming DCC presidents of Gujarat through what the leadership called "extensive", "transparent" and "democratic" deliberations with the party's local stakeholders, conducted in every district through search committees comprising AICC and PCC observers. The project makes these DCC presidents an empowered lot with direct say with the AICC in organisational matters, including candidates' selection, in their respective districts.

As the leadership has moved on to other states to implement this model, the AICC and Gujarat PCC functionaries are overseeing ground implementation of the Gujarat pilot project with training session for 'empowered' DCC presidents to coordinate their works with the party's block, mandal and booth committees, which too have been similarly reconstituted. During the discussions, the proposal has come up of Gandhi -- who is likely to visit Saurashtra this week to discuss the issue of cotton cultivators in view of the US import push as part of the trade deal negotiations --touring various districts of the state in regular intervals starting October.


When ET asked Gujarat PCC president Amit Chavda about the proposal, he said, "The appointment of DCC presidents through our new plan for organisational decentralisation has already taken place in Gujarat with the coordination of the AICC and PCC. Similar reforms have taken place in the block, mandal, nagar palika and booth committees. We are now discussing the plan of Rahul ji frequently touring various districts of Gujarat to interact with our DCC functionaries, party workers and meet with local people and discuss their issues. There is a proposal that during such visits, Rahul ji may also visit the homes of new DCC presidents to meet their families and understand their background".