New Delhi: Ahead of Congress President polls, candidate Shashi Tharoor highlighted that the party needs to decentralise authority and that if he is elected as AICC president, he will fully implement the party’s existing constitution which requires election to the Congress Working Committee revival of the parliamentary board that has been dormant for a quarter-century.
In an interview with news agency Press Trust of India, the Thiruvananthapuram MP in Lok Sabha siad that he would fully implement the Udaipur Declaration which was unanimously agreed at the party’s Chintan Shivir earlier this year.
Speaking about his plans for the party if he wins against Mallikarjun Kharge, Tharoor said, “"I think an important first step would be to call for elections to the Working Committee to spread our inner-party democracy even further."
"I am going to implement fully the existing Constitution, which requires CWC elections and the revival of the parliamentary board that has been dormant for a quarter-century, and the Udaipur Declaration which was unanimously agreed," the former Union minister said.
In the year 2020, a group of 23 Congress leaders known as G20 had written a letter to the party interim president Sonia Gandhi requesting organisation reforms within the party. The holding of the Congress Working Committee elections and the revival of the parliamentary board were among the key demands that were put forth in the letter.
At the Chintan Shivir held earlier this year, the party had adopted the Udaipur Declaration which included wide-ranging organisational reforms to make the party battle-ready for the next round of assembly and Lok Sabha polls, including wider representation to those under 50 years of age and enforcing 'one person, one post' and 'one family, one ticket' rules with riders.
Tharoor said that he has pointed out in his manifesto that the party must empower its units in the states by giving real authority to the Pradesh Congress Committee Presidents, block, mandal, and booth presidents.
He also stressed that Congress must provide a credible alternative to the BJP’s “centralisation of authority” in its party affairs and in the affairs of governance.