Rahul Gandhi unlikely to continue with position of political secretary in Congress

Unlike Sonia Gandhi whose tenure saw the institutionalisation of the office of political secretary, Congress President Rahul Gandhi is unlikely to appoint any Congress leader as his political secretary.

Sources confirmed that Rahul Gandhi’s office has been modelled after the hub and spoke system whereby small organisational units contribute directly to the central hub unlike the earlier system which functioned through a couple of designated people.

Technically, the office of Rahul Gandhi would function in a very different way from Sonia Gandhi’s office where functions were devolved to few people. In this case, it would be more centralised and decision-making would remain in his purview.

The hub and spoke model would not allow any one functionary to be the voice of Congress President and functionaries would meet Rahul Gandhi on equal footing.

In the new set up, strict instructions have been issued to people working in his office to notgive interviews to the media.

As of now Rahul Gandhi’s office is being managed by low profile, K Raju who has earlier worked closely with former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh YSR Reddy. He subsequently worked under Sonia Gandhi as part of the National Advisory Council and subsequently as head of the SC/ST of the Congress. For now, he remains as the point person in Rahul Gandhi’s office and other associates like Kanishka Singh, Alankar Sawai, Kaushal Vidyarthi continue to work closely with him. He fulfills the role of Chief of Staff as he has requisite experience in bureaucracy of running systems but also the understanding that low profile grants longevity in politics.

Sonia Gandhi after taking over the Congress had appointed Ambika Soni and Ahmad Patel as her political secretaries. Subsequent to a power struggle, Ambika Soni was shifted to organisation and later inducted as a minister in the the government. On the other hand, Ahmad Patel continued as political secretary to the former Congress president. As of now Ahmad Patel continues as the political secretary to the Congress president as organisational reshuffle is taking place in bits and pieces. One will have to wait and see which role will be made open for Ahmad Patel.