Mr Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has been retained as the PCC president. The AICC, it was learnt has not made any changes in the organisational structure in state unit, thereby leaving the simmering intra-party differences unresolved.
The decision of keeping the party portfolio holders unchanged is a pointer to the newly elected AICC president Rahul Gandhi’s style of functioning.
It is going to be consensus rather than confrontation, a senior leader said lest some of the leaders defect.
Leaving the PCC chief unchanged comes at a time when several leaders of the party expressed their difference with his policies. But reposing its faith on Chowdhury’s leadership, the AICC has made it clear that it does not yet want to reshuffle the organisational structure in the state.
Armed with the AICC’s blessings, Mr Chowdhury’s tenure so far was marked by hits and misses ever since the state Assembly elections last year.
An electoral understanding with the CPI-M-led Left Front saw state Congress emerge as the principal Opposition party in the state.
Though the PCC chief and other senior leaders supported the candidature of Abdul Mannan as leader of the Oppostion in the state Assembly over Dr Manas Bhunia, differences have cropped up between Mr Chowdhury and Mr Mannan.
By expressing his unhappiness about the lack of intitiative on part of the state unit led by the Behrampore MP in launching agitations and lack of co-ordination in the campaign for the coming by-elections, Mannan has made no secret of his reservations.
Moreover, several leaders felt that the PCC chief has not been able to play a pro-active role to prevent some of the newly elected Congress from joining Trinamul Congress. While the leader of the Opposition has moved court in this matter, no remarkable endeavour of the PCC chief was discernible.
On the other hand, two state Congress delegations gave memorandum to govenor, Keshari Nath Tripathi in a space of few days with almost identical grievances. One of them was led by Mr Mannan and another by Mr Chowdhury, thereby bringing their difference out in the open.
A change in the top leadership of AICC was viewed to be a sign of sweeping changes in the organisational structures whose weakness was bemoaned by Mr Gandhi on several occassions.
But the decision to maintain a status quo in the party structure is an indication that despite complaints piling up, the national leadership is unlikely to make major changes in a hurry.