Rahul Gandhi seeks open talks with partymen

New Delhi, Feb 1: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday asked his party office-bearers to start afresh and not to harp on all that has gone wrong in the past. Gandhi, whose position in the party was elevated recently, said this during his first formal meeting with the party officials.

Gandhi, it was learnt, spoke on ways to strengthen and boost the party organisation after many of the participants focused on various shortcomings. The meeting, which will continue on Friday, continued for nearly two hours.

The vice-president, at the very outset, told his colleagues to express their mind and not to feel apprehensive about offending him. However, when some of the office-bearers spoke about various complaints, Gandhi intervened and said there was no point in discussing the past and it would be more meaningful if they emphasised on the future.

According to sources, when a key office-bearer underscored factors like 'accountability' and 'performance', general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is also the Union Health Minister, stressed the need to implement 'one man, one post ' concept. Citing his own case, Azad said he was not able to do justice to two positions that he held and advised to set up coordination committee if the ministers were indeed needed to be involved in party work.

Another general secretary and senior leader of the party Digvijay Singh said it was necessary to make a reshuffle in the AICC before the process of restructuring and strengthening the party was undertaken. He said everyone would be on tenterhooks otherwise.

Oscar Fernandes, also a general secretary, said there should be better coordination between booths, blocks, district and state committees and that they should meet at least once in a month.

OneIndia News