To “strengthen” the organisation at the grassroots level, the faction-ridden Haryana Congress on Wednesday named 104 block presidents for the first time in 12 years. Till now, the posts were vacant.However, the list of 104 block presidents includes no women. The appointments for the remaining 76 blocks are still pending. Also, no appointment has been made in Sirsa, Jhajjar, Faridabad, and Hansi.While declaring the block presidents, state president Rao Narender Singh mentioned that, “Based on the recommendations received from District Congress Committee presidents, senior party leaders, dedicated party workers, and after discussions with BK Hariprasad, AICC in-charge, Haryana, the appointments of the following Block Congress Committee presidents are hereby approved with immediate effect to further strengthen the organisation at the grassroots level.”The party in Haryana had been running without any grassroots workers since May 2014. After a rout in the Lok Sabha election, when the party won only the Rohtak Lok Sabha seat, the then Congress president, Ashok Tanwar, dissolved all the district and block committees.Then, in 2025, after an 11-year gap, it released a list of 32 district presidents, with many districts having multiple presidents. That list also had just one woman.The absence of grassroots organisation impacted the party in the 2014 state Assembly poll, and Lok Sabha and Assembly poll in 2019 and 2024.Talking to The Tribune, Rao Narender Singh, “We have finalised the names of 104 block presidents. A total of 76 blocks are still left. The names have been finalised after talking to MLAs, MPs, and those who contested the Lok Sabha and Assembly poll. There is complete agreement over these names.”On the absence of women in the block presidents’ list, Singh said, “The names for 76 blocks are still left. There is a chance that women would be appointed. Also, there is no quota for women for these posts. Many women leaders are working at the state and district level, though.”Meanwhile, the list of block presidents is heavily dominated by leaders loyal to former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda.A senior leader, on condition of anonymity, said that if block presidents too were to be appointed at the choice of top leaders, why was there a 12-year wait?