AHMEDABAD, India, April 9 – India’s opposition Congress party will carry out a sweeping organisational reshuffle and empower local party units as part of a broader strategy to revamp its internal structure and prepare for upcoming elections, senior party leaders said on Tuesday.
Speaking after an extended meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Memorial in Ahmedabad, party general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal said the Congress has dedicated 2025 to “complete restructuring.”
“We are going to have a massive organisational reshuffle, and there will be guidelines for the same,” Venugopal told reporters. “General secretaries and in-charges are already working on it.”
He added that the party will soon implement a plan to strengthen District Congress Committee (DCC) presidents by giving them more authority, responsibility, and resources. The move is aimed at deepening the party’s reach at the grassroots level.
The CWC also passed a resolution affirming its commitment to social justice and invoking the legacy of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, a key figure in India’s freedom movement and the country’s first home minister.
“Our party will walk on the path showed to us by Sardar Patel ji,” Venugopal said. “He fought for the rights of farmers and workers, and rejected communal forces. Our ‘Nyay Path’ is rooted in those same principles.”
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge echoed the sentiment in his opening address, accusing the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), of attempting to co-opt Patel’s legacy.
“We are taking his legacy forward,” Kharge said. “Sardar Patel lives in our hearts and thoughts.”
AICC general secretary Sachin Pilot also underscored the party’s plans to enhance the role of district-level leadership, saying it would boost accountability and grassroots mobilisation.
“The intention is to make the DCC presidents more empowered than before,” Pilot said. “This is the year of the organisation – to strengthen our workers, expand our ideology, and reach the people through padyatras and door-to-door programmes.”
The Congress party, which has struggled in national elections in recent years, is aiming to project a united front and increase its electoral strength ahead of key state polls and the 2026 general election.
Pilot added that the final resolutions of the meeting, to be announced on Wednesday, would be titled “Nyay Path” (Path of Justice), part of a broader campaign named “Nyaypath: Sankalp, Samarpan aur Sangharsh” (Commitment, Dedication, and Struggle).
More than 1,700 elected and co-opted AICC members are participating in the session, which will culminate in a convention on the banks of the Sabarmati River near Mahatma Gandhi’s ashrams.
“We are sending a clear message to our supporters, our opponents, and to every corner of the country,” Pilot said. “Congress will not step back — we will fight aggressively inside and outside Parliament.”
