All India Congress Committee Delhi head PC Chacko on Saturday overturned the dissolution of all 280 block-level committees of the party, PTI reported. Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit had on Friday dissolved all the committees, a month after the party’s rout in the Lok Sabha elections.
Chacko forwarded a copy of his order to Congress President Rahul Gandhi and Dikshit, the Hindustan Times reported. “As a DPCC chief, one is not expected to behave so irresponsibly,” he wrote. “The block presidents are elected leaders in the party and dissolution of these committees cannot be done without taking into consideration the working presidents.”
Chacko said two working presidents had told him their committees had been dissolved without consulting them. A group of Congress leaders also met General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal and Chacko, protesting the dissolution.
Dikshit, a three-time Delhi chief minister, had dissolved the committees based on a report by a panel appointed to assess the Congress’ poor performance in the Lok Sabha polls. The party had failed to win even a single seat in Delhi. Chacko said on Saturday that he had communicated his opposition to Dikshit’s decision to Rahul Gandhi, who said he will take a final decision in the matter.
However, Delhi Congress spokesperson Jitender Kochar said the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president has the power to remove block presidents. “It is only for removal of district presidents that the approval of AICC president is required,” he said. “The process for constitution of new committees has already begun in view of the Assembly elections in Delhi scheduled early next year.”
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