AICC reshuffle uncertain

With the party and the government facing a series of problems, the reshuffle in the AICC Secretariat has been put on the back-burner.

With the party and the government facing a series of problems, the reshuffle in the AICC Secretariat has been put on the back-burner.

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In the wake of Shashi Tharoor-IPL controversy and the remarks of AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh against Home Minister P Chidambaram's approach towards Maoist menace remaining unresolved, no one in the AICC talks of a reshuffle of the work allocation within the party.

The much-awaited reshuffle has been pending for a while and the latest controversies have ensured that it will take more time to effect changes in the AICC.

Now, there are about half a dozen vacancies in the party hierarchy, but sources indicated that a reshuffle has been postponed.

They said there was no "political urgency" for filling the posts and adhere to the 'one-person one-post' formula as no elections were near, except the assembly elections in Bihar later this year.

Four party general secretaries were inducted into the Union Council of Ministers in the second term of the UPA government - Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mukul Wasnik, Prithviraj Chavan and V Narayanasami, leaving them with little time to concentrate on party work.

Azad is in-charge of party affairs in Tamil Nadu and Orissa while Wasnik is in-charge of Rajasthan and Delhi. Chavan looks after party affairs in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir.

Law Minister M Veerappa Moily is in-charge of Andhra Pradesh, where a panel is looking into the Telangana issue.

Among others holding dual charges are C P Joshi, the Union Minister for Rural Development who is the Rajasthan Congress chief and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the PCC chief of West Bengal.

Now, there are nine general secretaries. Party sources said the number could go upto 12 when the reshuffle takes place after the second part of the budget session.

Congress has embarked on a year-long celebration to mark 125 years of the formation of the party which will end with a session of the AICC in the last week of December this year.

In addition, membership drive is going on and the organisation elections are scheduled to be completed by December next year.