In a significant move to address growing internal dissatisfaction, the Jharkhand unit of the Congress party has announced a series of organisational reforms aimed at improving coordination between its legislators and ministers. The decision was taken during a high-level meeting held in Ranchi on Friday.
New System to Bridge MLA-Minister Gap
The central reform involves tagging three Congress MLAs with each of the party's four ministers in the state's coalition government. This initiative, announced by Jharkhand Congress affairs in-charge K Raju, is designed to create dedicated teams. Under this new framework, the MLAs will formally raise public and party worker concerns with their assigned minister, who will then work to address them.
Monthly review meetings will be conducted to track progress on these issues. Raju stated that this mechanism is intended to ensure that grassroots workers do not feel disconnected from the ministers and to strengthen internal coordination within the party, which has been facing reports of discontent.
Grassroots Outreach and Electoral Preparedness
Beyond the MLA-minister teams, the party is launching a major outreach program called 'Samwad' at the block level starting January 17. This initiative will run for 20 days and involve newly formed gram panchayat and ward panchayat level committees. Each of these committees will have 12 members.
The goal of Samwad is to directly engage with grassroots committees, instructing them on key issues, methods to connect with the public, and how to propagate the party's values. In a parallel move for electoral readiness, the Congress has trained approximately 30,000 booth-level workers. These workers will act as gatekeepers during the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Jharkhand, aiming to prevent genuine voters from being wrongly removed from the lists.
Foundation Day Celebrations to Boost Morale
To commemorate its foundation day and energise the cadre, the Jharkhand Congress will hold mega programmes on December 28. Party workers are encouraged to hoist Congress flags at their homes. Celebratory events are planned at every block and gram panchayat to inform citizens about the Congress party's role in India's freedom struggle. For this purpose, the party is procuring 60,000 flags for distribution.
The exhaustive meeting on Friday was attended by all district presidents, Congress MLAs, and the party's four state ministers, underlining the leadership's concern over the simmering discontent and its commitment to a structural solution.
