Guwahati: There is disquiet among the Congress rank and file in the Northeast over the continuation of the "overburdened" C.P. Joshi as the general secretary in-charge of the Northeast. Joshi is a close aide of Rahul Gandhi, who will take over as party president on Saturday.

A section of Congress leaders told The Telegraph that the disquiet has been triggered by Joshi's style of functioning, an attribute they claim will not help revive the party, which has been losing one state after the other in the region under his watch. They said they enjoyed "good rapport" with Joshi but "he is neither inspirational nor visionary" to revive the party from the threat posed by the BJP. Another leader said he was "overburdened" with 11 states to look after.

"He does not understand the Northeast and practically has no time to understand the region. We have lost Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur and the party is ailing in Nagaland and Tripura. If no corrective steps are taken, we may also lose Mizoram and Meghalaya," he said.

The Northeast Congress Coordination Committee reconstituted last year is all but defunct, another leader said.

Another leader said, "Rahul ji should appoint a new team which knows the region. He can also engage senior and experienced leaders such as Tarun Gogoi, D.D. Lapang, Lal Thanhawla, Ibobi Singh and Nabam Tuki."

That everything was not well with Joshi's style of functioning came to the fore when PCC chiefs of the region conveyed to him in a meeting on January 6 that "they need to be heard before the party leadership takes decisions". A PCC chief, who was relieved of his post a few months later, even had a heated exchange with Joshi for not giving him time.

Joshi said he "failed" to understand why these issues were being raised now. "Our president-elect will soon carry out a restructuring," he said.