The state unit of the party, which had been ignored and forgotten for years by the AICC, has a lot to cheer about. For campaigning for the 18 assembly seats, Tytler has lined up as many as eight Union ministers, including Congress's `youth brigade' Sachin Pilot, Salman Khurshid, Jyotiraditya Schindia and Jatin Prasad, to campaign for the party candidates.
"Earlier, it was difficult for us to get any Union minister apart from those hailing from Bihar for campaigning," remarked a senior leader.
It is not just confined to getting Union ministers for campaigning. The state unit of party, which has been suffering from infighting for a long time, has for the first time assigned clear-cut jobs to leaders who were virtually sulking or kept in the cold. Old Congress war horses like former speaker Sadanand Singh, Mahachandra Prasad Singh, Shyam Sundar Singh Dheeraj, Ram Jatan Sinha, Kumod Ranjan Jha, V S Dubey and others have been asked either to stay in assembly constituencies going to polls and co-ordinate the election campaigning or accompany Union ministers during their electioneering in Bihar.
"Make sure that the list is followed strictly," ordered Tytler in his letter to the state leadership. Even party new comers like Aniruddha Prasad alias Sadhu Yadav, Vijay Singh Yadav, Ranjit Ranjan and Desai Choudhary have not been left out. "After a long gap every faction has been accommodated in the party's affair," conceded a former Congress MLA. The importance given to `borrowed players' during the Lok Sabha polls had created a lot of heartburn among the traditional Congressmen.
Congress leaders point out that Tytler has also introduced `financial discipline' in the state unit. "Funds are going directly to the organisational heads at the grassroots, even to the block presidents and not via somebody else. There will be optimum use of our limited resources and leaders are not unlikely to accuse each other of gobbling the money meant for elections," remarked an office-bearer.
Tytler has promised installation of a video-conferencing system at state party headquarters Sadaquat Ashram so that he can talk to Congress leaders and workers on a daily basis even when he is in Delhi. "I have known Jagdish Tytler ever since the day the late Indira Gandhi visited Belchi in Bihar on an elephant back to console Dalit families whose kin had been killed. He is basically a man who builds organization and knows how to deal with workers and leaders," remarked former minister Dheeraj.
However, even hardcore Congress leaders concede that Tytler has a tough task as far as revitalising the party is concerned as it has been organisationally dead for the past over one decade and the vote bank too has diminished. "But for the first time there is an honest effort," remarked a senior Congress leader.
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