New Delhi, Apr 3 (PTI) Seeking to strengthen the party at the grassroots, top Congress leadership on Thursday held a meeting with its district unit chiefs and stressed that the District Congress Committees will soon be given a lot of powers with which their responsibility, as well as accountability, will also increase.

The party also said the district units will be given more voice in selecting candidates for polls.

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Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Rahul Gandhi, AICC general secretary in-charge organisation K C Venugopal, among others, attended the DCC presidents' meet.

In the meeting at the Indira Gandhi Bhawan, District Congress Committee (DCC)presidents from Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Madhya Pradesh, Chandigarh, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Delhi, participated.

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The party's state unit chiefs and AICC in-charges of these states and Union Territories were also present in the meeting.

Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said six presentations were made, including those by the media and social media departments.

He said presentations were also made by Sasikanth Senthil on the organisational structure and Vijay Inder Singla on how the party's property can be used effectively in districts.

Khera said the Congress top brass heard the representatives, interacted with them and asked for their suggestions.

"Our leadership stressed that we are going to give a lot of power to the DCCs and with greater power, their responsibility and accountability will also increase. Their performance will also be evaluated and a presentation was also made on that as to what was their performance in AICC programmes and whether voting percentage in their district during panchayat, local body or assembly elections, increased or decreased," Khera said.

"On the basis of that, DCC presidents' future will be decided," he said.

Asked about the powers to be given to DCC chiefs, Khera said they will be given more voice in selecting candidates for elections.

This is the second such meeting that took place as the top Congress leadership last Thursday held a meeting with district unit chiefs urging them to work unitedly with a long-term strategy to ensure victory in upcoming state elections.

In his inaugural address at that meeting last week, Congress president Kharge asserted the organisation's ideology is strong but it cannot be implemented in the country without attaining power.

Emphasising the role of DCCs, former party president Gandhi said without them, the party cannot thrive or succeed. He had urged them to help build a stronger Congress and a fairer India.

This is the first time in years that the party organised such meetings with district chiefs. There will be one more such meeting on April 4 ahead of the AICC session in Ahmedabad on April 8-9.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)