With changes already worked out in Karnataka as the chief minister Siddaramaiah has stepped aside making way for D K Shivakumar; the Congress leadership may now focus on focusing Sachin Pilot as the 'face' for Congress party's battle of Rajasthan in 2028. More changes in different states are also on cards.
In Rajasthan, the party is banking yet again on deploying Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Sachin Pilot as the new state unit chief.
Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal
Sachin was near the CM's office target in 2018 also but veteran Ashok Gehlot had walked away with the prize and he later around 2021-22 declined to pave way for Sachin's coronation.
At present Govind Singh Dotasara heads the Rajasthan unit. If Sachin Pilot moves to his home state, Rajasthan, the high command would have to name a new AICC in charge for Chhattisgarh. Like Rajasthan, in 2023, the Congress lost power to the BJP in Chattiasgarh too. Elections are due in November 2028 in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Mizoram.
Those polls as usual will be almost semi-final before the 2029 parliamentary polls when Narendra Modi will complete 15 years in office.
The Congress leadership especially Rahul Gandhi is keen for organisational changes in Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh where polls are due by March 2027 along with Goa and Manipur.
Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh will also go to elections by November 2027.
Woman shows her index fingers marked with an indelible ink as she poses for a photograph next to a cutout portrait of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2024
The Congress party may name new in-charges to replace Mukul Wasnik in Gujarat, Avinash Pande in Uttar Pradesh and Kumari Selja in Uttarakhand. In UP, the Congress may replace state unit chief Ajay Rai - who took on PM Narendra Modi in 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The revamp of the Punjab Congress was on the cards and the state unit Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring may be replaced.
Former CM Charanjit Singh Channi, a Dalit, may be brought as the new face of the party -- where Congress is optimistic of wresting power from AAP.
Channi was Congress face in 2022 too. “I don’t think any changes are proposed in the state team. The meeting discussed the organisation and our upcoming programmes. We are readying ourselves for the 2027 polls. The AAP used muscle and money power to win the local body elections. We also have to prepare for the coming SIR,” said AICC Secretary in charge of Punjab Hina Kaware.
The grand old party now could also see leadership changes in other states. The Congress is set to appoint new presidents in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka.
D K Shivakumar is to be sworn in as CM on June 3 and hence he will have to be replaced as state unit chief.
In Kerala, state Congress president Sunny Joseph has become a minister in the V D Satheesan government. Lobbying for the top party post has already begun, with caste, community and factional equations coming into play.
Lok Sabha MPs Kodikunnil Suresh, Benny Behanan, and Anto Antony are among the contenders along with UDF convener Adoor Prakash and senior leader Joseph Vazhackan.
Those backing Suresh, an eight-term MP and former working president of the state unit, argue that the party should consider appointing a Dalit leader to the post. Others contend that with Christians having backed the Congress in big numbers and the BJP stepping up outreach to the community, Joseph should be succeeded by a Christian leader.
The process of change has begun in Goa, where a new state team has been unveiled to prepare for the 2027 assembly polls, in which the Congress hopes to defeat the ruling BJP. The party named AICC Tamil Nadu in-charge Girish Chodankar as the new Goa unit chief on May 29, and the high command will now have to appoint a new AICC in-charge for the southern state.
The High Command also named three working presidents, M K Shaikh, Altone D'Costa, and Carlos Alvares Ferreira; treasurer Datta D Naik; campaign committee head Yuri Alemao; manifesto committee head Captain Viriato Fernandes; and coordination committee head Francisco Sardinha to revamp the Goa team.
In Tamil Nadu, K Selvaperunthagai is set to be removed, with the high command said to be unhappy with his style of functioning.
AICC’s Haryana in-charge B K Hariprasad is also learnt to be in the running for a key role in Karnataka.
The decision to reappoint Girish Chodankar as Goa Congress president, however, has triggered unhappiness within the state unit.
Chodankar had resigned as state chief in March 2022 following the party’s defeat in the Assembly polls.
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