New Delhi: Days after a major organisational rejig in the party, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday did some plain-speaking with top office-bearers, stressing that they will be held accountable for future election results in states under their charge and asking them to be wary of ideologically weak turncoats.

Addressing general secretaries and in-charges, including those appointed last week, at a meeting held at the party’s headquarters at Indira Bhawan here, Kharge emphasised the importance of promoting those people who are committed to the ideology of the Congress and stand with us like a rock even in adverse circumstances. Kharge also hinted at some more changes in the organisation, saying some changes have already taken place and some more are in the offing.

“I want to talk to you about the most important thing of accountability. You all will be held accountable for revamping the organisations in states and for all future election results,” he told the office-bearers. The party recently brought in new office bearers in the revamped organisation. Among those who attended the meeting were former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, senior leaders Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, K C Venugopal and Jairam Ramesh, and all general secretaries and in-charges in various states.

At the meeting, Kharge also flagged the issue of alleged “voter list manipulation” and claimed that it is happening on a large scale in elections. He noted that Rahul Gandhi also raised a question about this in the Lok Sabha. “All of you will realise that these days the names of our supporters are deleted from the voters list. Or the name is removed and added to the adjacent booth. New names were added by the BJP just before the election. This rigging has to be stopped at all costs,” the Congress chief asserted. Kharge pointed out that earlier the Chief Justice was also included in the selection committee of Chief Election Commission (CEC) by the order of the Supreme Court but the CJI was removed from the panel by the Modi government.

“The government does not even trust the impartiality of the Chief Justice of the country. This matter was to be heard in the Supreme Court, but the government announced the new CEC before that. Rahul Ji also said that what is the use of such a selection committee, where you are using Leader of Opposition only for certification?” he said. Kharge also raised the issues of inflation and unemployment, alleging the Modi government has completely failed on that front. He urged the office-bearers to strengthen the organisation.

“It is your responsibility to strengthen the organisation from state headquarters to booth as soon as possible. You will have to go to the booth yourself for this work, work hard, interact with the workers. Our Frontals - Cells will have to be involved. I especially want to say about the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), that they are an important part of us, involve them too in organisation building,” Kharge said. “If you yourself go to the booth, division, block, district, state level at the grassroots level, then you will be able to add new people there. You will be able to bring trustworthy and ideologically strong people with you.You can bring forward those people who can be very useful for the party but did not get a chance,” he said. Kharge called for promoting those people who are committed to the ideology of the Congress and “stand with us like a rock even in adverse circumstances”.