“Groupism will not be tolerated.” This was the message Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi gave his new team in the organisation ahead of crucial state Assembly polls and the Lok Sabha election in 2014.
The young Mr Gandhi on Saturday held an over 90-minute meeting with AICC general secretaries and secretaries at the party headquarters.
This was his first formal meeting with them after the organisational reshuffle. Sources said though Mr Gandhi spoke for five to six minutes, he made clear his priorities and his expectations of the team.
He made it clear that coordination and cooperation were key to success and that he expects the AICC to work as a family. While the Congress has been losing the Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh Assembly elections since 2003 because of groupism from top to bottom, it returned to power in Rajasthan, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, and even in Kerala, because of unity.
Sources said Mr Gandhi met AICC general secretaries and secretaries in groups on Friday.
He told them that the secretaries would tour the states allotted to them for organisational work from the block level to regional headquarters level while the general secretaries would visit state capitals to review the organisational work.
“Secretaries are to work on the road map prepared by the general secretary concerned,” they said, adding that the secretaries could talk to Mr Rahul Gandhi any time on his cell phone.
They said the Congress vice-president plans to hold a meeting of party general secretaries once every three months.
Asked what Mr Rahul Gandhi’s message was, a Congress official replied: “Baaten kum, kaam jyada (talk less, work more) and “united we stand, divided we fall”.