Congress begins major internal overhaul in 2025 to empower grassroots leaders and enforce internal democracy.
NEW DELHI: With the Congress dedicating 2025 to organisational restructuring as it prepares to take on the BJP’s juggernaut, the grand old party is planning a massive overhaul of its internal setup, reflecting Rahul Gandhi’s vision to empower grassroots leaders and build a future-ready leadership. The restructuring process involves feedback from over 1,000 party workers and leaders for the selection of district presidents.
Gandhi, who is also the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, has recently toured the country extensively to address long-standing issues that have hindered the party’s electoral performance. A source closely involved in the organisational reshuffle said these long-awaited reforms will significantly strengthen democracy within the party. He explained that Gandhi is committed to implementing his long-pending goal of fostering internal democracy in the Congress by identifying underperforming and compromised leaders and workers.
During his recent visits to states like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Haryana, the former Congress chief reportedly made several remarks alluding to inefficiencies within the organisation—without naming individuals. Gandhi launched the ‘Sangathan Srijan’ initiative earlier this year from Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state. The process of new appointments there is nearly complete. While in Madhya Pradesh, Gandhi famously described three types of political actors: racehorses, marriage horses, and crippled horses—an allegory for evaluating leadership potential.
The source said that Gandhi is personally overseeing the work assigned to observers, who have been tasked with identifying new grassroots leaders. Through ‘Sangathan Srijan’, Gandhi has also reportedly gained deeper insight into the systemic rot that has plagued the Congress organisation for decades. Observers have been instructed to propose at least three names per district for the role of district president. They are meeting with party leaders on an Assembly-wise basis to shortlist potential candidates. With Gandhi directly monitoring the process, the observers are working intensively to complete the organisational overhaul through a bottom-up, democratic framework—from the booth level to the state level. The party is gathering input from more than 150 individuals per Assembly constituency for both block-level and district-level appointments.
Once compiled, these reports will be submitted to the party high command. Although the new mechanism for appointing local chiefs is timeconsuming, the source asserted that it would yield long-term benefits. The reforms aim to enforce greater accountability and responsibility, with oversight from both the party’s central control room in Delhi and its state-level offices. Explaining the shift in approach, the source noted that previously, appointments were typically finalised by the state unit chief, the CLP leader, and five to six other senior leaders. In contrast, the new process incorporates feedback from 900 to 1,000 people, thereby gauging a candidate’s broader acceptability within the district.
Observers from Haryana and Madhya Pradesh are expected to submit their reports to the party leadership by June 30, after which discussions with state leaders will be held before final appointments are made. Ultimately, the success of Gandhi’s vision for internal party democracy will be tested in the upcoming Assembly and local elections in these states.