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Congress's 'chintin shivir' likely May 14, to discuss embarrassing poll losses
The Congress working committee has been constituted by Sonia Gandhi and includes senior leaders such as Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, KC Venugopal, Digvijaya Singh, Mukul Wasnik, P Chidambaram, and Randeep Singh Surjewala, among others, party functionaries said.
The Congress will hold a chintan shivir (brainstorming session) in Rajasthan around May 14 to discuss the reasons for its poor performance in the recently held assembly elections in five states, a senior leader said on condition of anonymity. The development came even as election strategist Prashant Kishor spent a third day in meetings with the Congress leadership.
The Congress working committee will soon meet to chart out the agenda for the workshop, the leader quoted above said.
On Tuesday, former chief minister and leader of the opposition in Madhya Pradesh, Kamal Nath, joined the discussions with Kishor, along with state leader Digvijaya Singh, at party chief Sonia Gandhi’s residence.
There has been a flurry of activity at 10 Janpath over the weekend after the Congress announced that Kishor has approached it with a proposal for the 2024 general election campaign, and may even join the party. A panel set up by the party will review his proposal this week.
The Congress has also started preparing for the assembly elections scheduled to be held this year and the next by starting an evaluation process to appoint block and booth level workers to fill vacancies, ensuring that its district ward committees are fully equipped, and communications departments are effective.
“The Congress president constituted a committee to oversee the needful that must be done for the upcoming polls over the weekend,” said a party functionary familiar with the matter. “Many assessments are slated to be made and recommendations will be put forth in front of the leadership by the end of this week.”
Congress spokespersons did not immediately respond to HT’s queries on the developments, Kishor told HT on Monday that he couldn’t discuss the details of his meetings with the party leadership.
Polls are scheduled to be held this year in Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka, followed by assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh next year, before the country gets ready for the 2024 general elections.
The committee has been constituted by Gandhi and includes senior leaders such as Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, K C Venugopal, Digvijaya Singh, Mukul Wasnik, P Chidambaram, and Randeep Singh Surjewala, among others, party functionaries said.
The first meeting of the panel was held on Sunday, followed by another meeting on Tuesday. “There will be constant interactions this week as the panel prepares its final recommendations on how to approach the polls,” the functionary mentioned above said.
The panel is working to identify broad topics, as well as state-specific topics to ensure preparedness for the state elections can match its expectations. The party has faced setbacks in recent assembly elections in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Manipur and Uttarakhand.
