Sonia Gandhi

New Delhi, Nov. 8: The much-awaited All India Congress Committee shuffle, which was to happen after last month’s Assembly polls, appears to have been put off again.

Congress sources said Sonia Gandhi would acquire her new team only in the new year.

The apparent reasons for the postponement are the approaching Jharkhand elections and the winter session of Parliament, but insiders said incumbents usually try to delay changes on flimsy grounds.

For them, Assembly polls and Parliament sessions come as handy excuses with agreeable regularity. Even inauspicious periods like the Pitripaksh, unfavourable solar and lunar positions, and festivals are cited to put off shuffles.

This shuffle has been held up since May. Several times has a major part of the groundwork been done only for the announcement to be withheld at the last minute.

It is unlikely that the changes will take place before January 15, because the majority of leaders do not favour taking important decisions before Sankranti. Besides, the party needs to accomplish other key tasks before the shuffle, such as deciding presidential nominations for the Rajya Sabha and selecting governors for several states.

Sonia was keen to restructure the AICC secretariat at the earliest because the current team, formed for the general election, included several ministers.

Sonia also wanted to bring in fresh faces and groom them for future responsibilities. But the exercise did not happen even though several ministers repeatedly asked to be freed of party work. The Congress was compelled to fight the key Assembly elections with the same team.

Part-time generals like A.K. Antony, who had to look after the defence ministry and the Maharashtra elections in addition to his involvement in Kerala politics, are now keen to move out of the party headquarters.

Prithviraj Chavan, who piloted the Haryana polls, holds charge of the ministries of science and technology, earth sciences, parliamentary affairs, and personnel, public grievances and pensions in addition to being a minister in the Prime Minister’s Office.

V. Narayansamy, minister of state for planning and parliamentary affairs, was in charge of electioneering in Arunachal Pradesh.

Orissa, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are in the hands of health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who continues to be an AICC general secretary as well. Delhi, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Nagaland and Tripura too are being looked after by Union ministers: Mukul Wasnik, V. Narayansamy and M. Veerappa Moily.

While these overburdened ministers need relief, many party officials engaged in organisational work are eagerly waiting for the shuffle since they are in line for promotion.