JAIPUR (TIP): The Congress appears to have drawn lessons from the Left parties to revive the party organisation at the grassroots level. As its top leaders converge in Jaipur for the two-day Chintan Shivir (brainstorming session) beginning on Friday, the party leaders are all set to recommend changes at the organisational level. The party intends to set up a National Training Centre for its workers. The party sub-committee on organisation has recommended that workers need to be trained properly. It also proposes that Pradesh Congress Committee and District Congress Committee presidents should not contest elections and instead focus solely on organisational work. Sources also confirmed that the party brass feels state and district congress chiefs should be accommodated in high-powered committees so that they do not feel left out from the power structure.

Another recommendation of the sub-group is that the party must increase its mass contact programmes at block levels so that more and more people join the Congress. It adds that these mass contact programmes should also focus on urban areas apart from the rural centres where the party is strong. In another first, the sub-committee has suggested that disciplinary mechanism must be strengthened and quick action should be taken when leaders and workers indulge in anti-party activities. This proposal has Rahul Gandhi‘s stamp who has been advocating the need for a robust mechanism to reward and punish leaders and workers so that discipline can be maintained in the party. The sub-group has also proposed that the party’s campaign committees should be given more time to function, both at central and the state levels, so that elections campaigns can be organised properly.

It also says that candidates must be chosen in advance and opinions of the workers must be factored in during candidate selection. It also proposes that this process must start at least six months in advance and special attention must be given to ST and SC candidates. The party sub-committee on women has decided to propose gender audit so that the people and the government can come to know as to how ‘gender budget’ is being spent. It will also propose key changes in personal laws with an aim to empower women. A source confirmed that the group will urge the government to make another effort to push the women’s quota Bill in Parliament, apart from ensuring proper implementation of the 30 per cent reservation of seats for women in the party organisation.