Guwahati, May 29: The ruling Congress will rename its tea cell as Assam Pradesh Tea and Ex-Tea Mazdoor Congress department to extend its reach among the tea community, which seems to be drifting away from the party along with minority communities.

Several PCC leaders said the proposal to rename the tea cell was unanimously adopted at the first meeting of the executive committee of the reconstituted state unit at Rajiv Bhawan, the Assam Congress headquarters here, on Monday. The objective of the proposal, moved by PCC president Anjan Dutta and sent to the AICC for its approval, was to "enlarge the ambit" of the tea cell, seen as catering to only tea garden workers.

Leaders said by renaming the tea cell, the party wanted to reach out to the entire community, which included former tea workers mostly living in villages surrounding the gardens or in nearby urban centres, before the 2016 Assembly polls.

Bhagirath Karan, one of the vice-presidents of the reconstituted PCC and chairman of the tea cell, told The Telegraph that the population of the "unorganised" former tea garden workers was around 40 lakh in the state. "The PCC wants to take all possible steps to connect with this section so it is organised enough to avail all government facilities," he said.

The move has been necessitated by the fact that the tea community plays a decisive role in at least 36 of the 126 Assembly constituencies in the state. Traditionally, they have voted for the Congress but the BJP made huge inroads during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, which saw the ruling party lose in bastions like Jorhat and Dibrugarh in Upper Assam, which have significant tea community votes.

The move has become necessary because the Muslims, particularly in lower Assam and Barak Valley, is gradually moving towards the AIUDF while the Hindi and Bengali-speaking population is inclined towards the BJP.