Rajasthan Congress chief Gurudas Kamat to get rid of deadwood & absentees by dusting old rule-book

NEW DELHI: Congress may soon take measures to get rid of deadwood and habitual absentees from the party organisation. AICC general secretary for Rajasthan and Gujarat, Gurudas Kamat, has decided to dust up an old in-house rule-book to begin an experimentation that could be emulated in other states too.

Kamat wants to impose ground rules for PCC members. They would lose their membership of the committee if they do not attend a PCC meeting three consecutive times. According to sources, Kamat wants to try this experiment with the Rajasthan PCC and his decision has been conveyed to the state party leaders including PCC chief Sachin Pilot.

“An old rule in the party constitution says any member of a committee who fails to turn up for the meetings of the committee thrice in a row could lose the membership of the committee. The AICC general secretary in-charge of Rajasthan Congress, has realised there are some members in the PCC executive committee who remain for name sake and fail to attend the meetings regularly and has decided to act as per the rule,” said a source close to Kamat.

The decision comes at a time when the state Congress is showing a remarkable revival after its crushing defeat in the last Lok Sabha polls. While the May 2014 polls showed the Congress vote share falling below BJP's by nearly 26%, the good show by the state Congress in a series of recent civic polls has showed a remarkable recovery.

“Going by the last panchyat polls, Congress in Rajasthan has not only come out with a good show, its vote percentage state-wise after the last round of civic polls is just 2% below BJP's,” said a party functionary.

Kamat's move to try and rid off the deadwood and replace then with more active memebrs also comes in the wake of the state heading for corporation and municipal elections.

At the Gujarat PCC, where Bharastsinh Solanki has recently taken over as the new PCC chief, a complete restructuring of state PCC is on the cards. The issue reportedly figured in a recent meeting between Sonia Gandhi and Kamat. Solanki is expected to reach Delhi in a couple of days to finalise his new team in consultation with the AICC.