BHOPAL — After two back-to-back defeats -- first in the Assembly and then in the Lok Sabha elections, the Madhya Pradesh Congress is all set for a major reshuffle and the new team led by its state president Jitu Patwari will be announced in the next couple of weeks.
In the meantime, the party's state headquarters is also being renovated and re-designed.
After the Assembly poll debacle, the Congress replaced party's state president Kamal Nath with Jitu Patwari -- a young leader, however, things went worse and the party failed to open its account in the state in the Lok Sabha polls. The party even lost from Chindwara, its last bastion in the state.
Factionalism within the state Congress continue to persist and after the party lost all 29 Lok Sabha seats to the BJP recently, the knives were out for Jitu Patwari, however, the party's central leadership did not pay any heed to it.
Now, Jitu Patwari, who has direct backing from the party’s top brass including Rahul Gandhi, is all prepared to set up his own team.
"A tentative list of new PCC (Pradesh Congress Committee) team was prepared with consultation of leaders from different sections, including the minority cell and woman wing, and has been sent to Delhi for approval. The AICC (All India Congress Committee) will finalise the list after the by-election for Chhindwara's Amarwara assembly seat to avoid any rift within the party before the poll,” a Congress leader told IANS on condition of anonymity.
By the time Jitu Patwari gets node over his new team from the party's central leadership, Indira Gandhi Bhawan, the state Congress' headquarters located at Shivaji Nagar square in Bhopal, will be fully renovated with some added facilities, including a restaurant and guest rooms for the party leaders and workers who reach there from different parts of the state.
The four-storey PCC building is being fully re-structured and a special meeting room and an office for Jitu Patwari will be made, party sources told IANS.
The foundation of the present PCC headquarters was laid down in 1997 and later in 2011, a life-size statue of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was installed there, since then, it has been known as the Indira Gandhi Bhawan.