IN GREEN WE TRUST

Inside the Congress leadership's secretive green paper system that quietly drives crucial decisions

- BY BADAR BASHIR

Some of the most consequential political decisions made by the Congress do not begin with a phone call, a WhatsApp message or even an official letter.

They begin on a discreet sheet of green paper.

Known within the organisation simply as the “green paper” or “office note’, the document forms the backbone of the Congress leadership's confidential internal communication system. Recommendations for appointments, candidate selections, expenditure approvals, political strategies and sensitive organisational decisions move quietly through the hierarchy on these green sheets before eventually reaching Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for approval.

Congress insiders say that once an issue reaches the green paper stage, it signals that the matter is politically sensitive and intended strictly for a restricted circle within the leadership. Select details from these documents are brought out into the public domain as and when required.

Within the Congress structure, the green paper follows a clearly understood chain of authority. At the base are AICC general secretaries and state in-charges. Above them sit general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal, communications chief Jairam Ramesh and AICC treasurer Ajay Maken. At the apex are Kharge and the Gandhi family.

“The green paper's use is bottom up,” says former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh. “As an AICC general secretary, I have used that paper to get the Congress president's approvals.”