Bhubaneswar, July 31: The Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC), which is set to be revamped within a week, will have no working presidents. The incumbent PCC president Niranjan Patnaik will have a free-hand in running the party.

Earlier, Lalatendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra, Chandrasekhar Sahu and Bhakta Charan Das were occupying the post of working presidents. However, later it led to problems for the party.

After the AICC picked up Patnaik as the new PCC president last month, Patnaik continued to argue for the abolition of the working president posts. “A number of presidents in the party would mean less space to operate for Niranjan,” said a leader. In order to give a free-hand to Patnaik, the AICC has decided to abolish the working president posts. AICC leader Jagdish Tytler, who arrived here today on a one-day visit to the state, said: “The posts of working presidents will not exist. Youths will be given more priority.”

After reaching here, Tytler met all the senior leaders and discussed party affairs. He tried to seek the opinion on the constitution of the new PCC executive body. The new executive body of the PCC is likely to be announced within a week. “The new PCC team will lead the party in the next election,” said Tytler before leaving for Delhi in the evening.

During his meeting, former Youth Congress president Pradeep Majhi demanded that youths should be given more importance in the newly-constituted PCC body. “Those who had earlier worked for the Youth Congress should be given a chance in the PCC body,” Majhi said.

Sources said after Rahul Gandhi had made it clear that youths would be given top priority, the new PCC body was likely to absorb a number of youth leaders.