Nagpur Congress to hold monthly meetings of city executive; 8 October march planned

The first meeting of the newly formed executive of the Nagpur city district Congress committee was held at Congress Bhavan in Dewadiya. It was chaired by city Congress president Praful Gudadhe. Vice-president Ashok Dhawad and advocate Nanda Parate were present.

The meeting discussed the appointment of block-wise ward presidents, strengthening the organisation down to the booth level, and preparations for the India bloc's march on 8 October. At the start, the new office-bearers introduced themselves constituency-wise. Senior vice-president Bandopant Tembhurne presented details of the marches, agitations and birth anniversary programmes held by the city Congress last month.

Gudadhe said the city Congress would now meet every month and attendance would be compulsory for all office-bearers. He said notice of a meeting would be given three days in advance, while notice of an emergency meeting would be given 24 hours ahead.

Gudadhe said it was necessary to strengthen the Congress organisation at the booth, block and ward levels. The city executive has 62 office-bearers. Some workers are unhappy at not getting a place in the executive. A proposal will be sent to the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee to include such loyal workers.

Gudadhe appealed to as many office-bearers as possible to join the march on 8 October. According to the Congress, the march will start at 10 am from the Mahatma Gandhi statue at Variety Square and proceed to the District Collector's office. The party has three main demands: the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, the cancellation of the SIR, and elections by ballot paper. Constituents of the India bloc will also join the march.

Block-wise in-charges were also appointed at the meeting. In East Nagpur, Vinod Ingole was given charge of Block 1, Praveen Narad of Block 2 and Shrikant Kaikade of Block 3. In South Nagpur, Subhash Khode will be in charge of Block 4, Vasudeo Dhoke of Block 5 and Damodar Dharmade of Block 6.

In South-West Nagpur, Prashant Kapse was given charge of Block 7 and Prashant Dhakne of Blocks 8 and 9. In the north, Deepak Khobragade became in-charge of Block 13, Suresh Patil of Block 14 and Jalil Ansari of Block 15. In Central Nagpur, Anil Machhale was made in-charge of Block 16, Mohammed Kalam of Block 17 and Usha Kharbikar of Block 18. The meeting also discussed forming new cells, including a hotel workers' cell, an e-rickshaw front cell and an engineers' cell.