Dearth of second-line leaders in Congress

The problem, according to a senior Congress leader, stems from the party's over-reliance on the old guard while failing t give space to younger leaders. He said, 'They should have brought in young players with every reshuffle.'

- BADAR BASHIR

As the Congress party is expected to implement drastic organizational changes after the upcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, senior leaders express concerns about a "succession crisis" due to the lack of a robust secondline leadership.

According to a section of Congress leaders, this absence of strong successors is the primary reason for the delay in organizational changes within the party. They also suggest that replacements for two key positions-General Secretary (Organisation), currently held by K.C. Venugopal, and Media General Secretary, held by Jairam Rameshhave been under consideration.

However, finding suitable candidates for these roles has proven difficult.

A senior Congress leader at the AICC said, "The changes should have happened a long ago, but the management of the party does not have enough names who can be given important positions in place of those who they want to remove.