Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and AICC general secretary in charge of organisation K C Venugopal have taken part in interviews designed to assess candidates’ organisational record, political experience and ability to work in states outside their home base.
The exercise is expected to produce a substantially altered team of AICC secretaries, who function as key links between the central leadership and state units. The party currently has about 64 secretaries, with most attached to general secretaries or state in-charges and assigned responsibility for particular regions, organisational tasks or constituencies.
The selection process has been spread across several days in New Delhi. Candidates were questioned about work they had undertaken for the party, their performance in previous organisational assignments, their role in strengthening district and state structures and how they would handle broader responsibilities if appointed to the national organisation.
Those involved in the process were also asked about their experience of the party’s Sangathan Srijan organisational drive, including how they had handled internal pressures and decisions at the district level. The interviews have been supported by assessments of candidates’ previous work, allowing the leadership to compare their claims with internal performance records.
The reshuffle follows changes announced earlier this month in the Congress’s team of general secretaries and state in-charges. On September 5, the party reassigned several senior leaders, appointing Sachin Pilot as general secretary in charge of Punjab, Randeep Singh Surjewala as general secretary in charge of Gujarat while retaining Karnataka, and Bhupesh Baghel as general secretary in charge of Assam.
Other changes included Sukhdeo Bhagat taking charge of Chhattisgarh, Sirivella Prasad being assigned Maharashtra and P V Mohan receiving responsibility for Andhra Pradesh. Those appointments indicated that the leadership was already moving to reorganise the layer immediately above AICC secretaries before finalising the wider secretary-level changes.
The current exercise appears intended to combine continuity with wider turnover rather than replace the entire team. Party functionaries familiar with the process expect several existing secretaries to remain, while new entrants are brought in to fill vacancies, strengthen weaker state units and widen representation in the national organisation.
Attention has also focused on younger leaders and office-bearers with demonstrable organisational experience. Earlier stages of the selection process involved screening a larger pool of aspirants before candidates were called for interviews. Estimates of the original pool varied, but accounts of the final interview phase converged around roughly 130 candidates considered by the senior leadership.
The Congress has used interviews for secretary-level appointments before, but the direct participation of Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Venugopal has given the present exercise greater weight. Candidates have been assessed not only on seniority or factional backing but also on their ability to explain specific work carried out within the organisation and plans for assignments outside their own states.
AICC secretaries usually work under general secretaries or state in-charges and are often given responsibility for designated regions within a state. The arrangement makes them an important operational layer in coordinating campaigns, reporting organisational problems, liaising with state leaders and carrying instructions from the national leadership.
The overhaul comes as the Congress continues efforts to rebuild its organisational machinery through district-level appointments and state-level restructuring. The party has been replacing or reassigning office-bearers in several units as part of a broader attempt to improve accountability and prepare a larger pool of leaders for national responsibilities.
The leadership is expected to review the work of serving secretaries on Tuesday, adding their performance assessments to the appointment exercise.
