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A month after its electoral debacle, the Congress seems to be gearing up for a massive organisational overhaul. Sources say the party is mulling change of leadership in the faction-ridden states of Haryana, Maharashtra and Assam.
Haryana chief minister (CM) Bhupinder Singh Hooda had a 30-minute meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday morning. On Friday night, Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan had met senior Congress leader A K Antony and Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel.
Meanwhile, Gandhi has asked Antony to probe the factors that led to the party's defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. Congress leader Mukul Wasnik will be assisting Antony in this task.
The term of the Haryana Assembly will expire in October and that of Maharashtra in December, while the Assembly elections in Assam are scheduled in 2016.
However, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general-secretary in-charge for Haryana, Shakeel Ahmed, sought to downplay the development, saying: "A change of leadership either at the PCC (Pradesh Congress Committee) level or CLP (Congress Legislative Party) level is not under consideration."
Others point to the open rebellion within the party unit. However, no final decision has been taken on the issue because state elections are fast approaching.
Chavan's meeting with Antony and Patel has fuelled the speculation about a change of leadership in Maharashtra. That apart, two senior state leaders - Shivajirao Deshmukh and Shivajirao Moghe - have met Gandhi at her residence. The Congress high command is, however, still undecided whether to change Chavan with Assembly polls coming up in a few months. Former home minister and Dalit leader Sushil Kumar Shinde is reportedly in the running for the CM's post.
Assam has witnessed severe turbulence with senior minister Himanta Biswa Sarma rebelling against chief minister Tarun Gogoi. Sarma has now offered to step down; he is also likely to meet the Congress' top leadership soon.
Initially it appeared that Gogoi had overcome the challenge to his leadership by banking on his proximity with the top leadership. However, according to sources, he might be replaced first as the state is not going to polls anytime soon.
In the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress could won only three of the 14 seats in Assam - way below the party's expectations.
On Antony's probing the reasons for the poll defeat, a senior leader said that the Antony committee is an 'unofficial' one, where two other AICC secretaries would assist the senior leaders. The committee would hold meetings with not just the PCC chiefs of all states, but the chief ministers, legislative party leaders and AICC general secretaries in-charge of the states, before compiling the report.
