Feel free to have mantri darshan at Gandhi Bhavan twice a week!

Hyderabad: Reviving the practice witnessed in the Unified AP, the Congress party has decided to make it mandatory for the Ministers to pay visit twice a week to Gandhi Bhavan. Beginning from September 20, each of the Ministers will have to reserve two days of the week and this will continue on a rotating basis.

The decision was taken by the newly-appointed PCC president B Mahesh Kumar Goud on Wednesday and for bringing this into practice, he instructed the party staff to prepare modalities and also the schedule, which is likely to be set within a couple days allocating dates to each of the Ministers. They should be present to hear the public grievances besides taking representations from party cadres on selected days of Wednesday and Friday.

According to the party sources, each of the Ministers will have to spend two to three hours of time on the date of allocation. “Unlike the Secretariat where there is limited access amid tighter regulations, the general public and also party cadres not only from the city but also districts will have much easier access. Once the schedule is set, people will know which Minister will be available on particular days. They will be able to share their grievances and thoughts to the Minister thereby contributing for smoother administration and minimising the gap between the voters and those in administration, unlike the previous government. AIMIM has continued this practice at Darussalam for years and this is reflected in their poll results,” observed a senior leader.

A practice in Unified AP

The old timers recall how the practice was in place during the tenure of former CM of Unified AP Y S Rajasekhar Reddy, where some of his cabinet colleagues were regularly seen at Gandhi Bhavan, lending ears to party cadre and general public as well. “This was the practice at national level which was witnessed both in UPA-I and UPA-II. Even the Union Ministers were asked to pay a visit to the local PCC office in the State, even if they are on some official visit. Similarly, the Ministers from the State Cabinet were used to visit the District Congress Committee’s office. In the Unified AP, the practice was discontinued during Rosaiah and Kiran Kumar Reddy’s period. Now that Congress is in power in Telangana, this will be the first time the State will be implementing it,” the leader added. It may be recalled here that this was the first key proposal mentioned by Mahesh Kumar Goud immediately after taking charge on September 15. He also had requested the Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to pay a visit at least twice a month to Gandhi Bhavan.