Bumpy road ahead for Cong as it gears up for make-or-break state polls

By Saiyed Moziz Imam Zaidi

New Delhi, April 17 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Congress is gearing up to hold a Chintan Shivir next month to deliberate on the future plan for the party which has been failing in election after election. The trigger for the brainstorming session is the electoral setback in the recent five state elections where the Congress scored a duck while the BJP managed to retain all its four states and the Congress was swept away in the AAP tsunami in Punjab.

The Congress is trying to rope in political strategist Prashant Kishor and on Saturday he presented a detailed roadmap for the 2024 elections. Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi has set up a committee to look into the suggestions made by Kishor.

General Secretary, organization, KC Venugopal said, "Prashant Kishor has given a detailed presentation on the 2024 election and the Congress president has deputed a small group to look into it and report within a week and after that a final decision will be taken."

The Congress leaders have been meeting informally to discuss and finalise the agenda. The major test will be in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh this year, then states like Karnataka, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh go to the polls in 2023. These are the major states where the Congress has to perform better and win elections to pose a challenge to the BJP in the 2024 general elections.

The Congress knows that the road ahead is not smooth but bumpy as the BJP is trying to play its cards carefully. The recent violence could affect the Congress's chances in the states where it is not capable of countering the polarising agenda.

Sonia Gandhi recently said that the road ahead is more challenging than ever before. The party is now looking to corner the government on economic issues and despite not getting traction in the public the party has raised the issues of fuel and LPG price hike and soaring prices. Some Congress leaders admit privately that the public is least bothered about inflation and the BJP's polarizing agenda is on track and the Congress has to devise a new narrative to attract the peoples attention.

The Congress has been attacking the Centre on the issue of inflation. Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge said inflation was at its highest in the last 17 months and the Prime Minister should withdraw his "Achhe Din" statement. "At 7%, inflation is now the highest in 17 months." He said he would request the Prime Minister to immediately withdraw these 'Achhe Din'. The people of India have had enough of 'good times'."

The Congress has been targeting the government on inflation and has squarely blamed it for the high prices. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said, "The government should bulldoze inflation and unemployment but instead of that the BJP's bulldozer is driven by hatred to instil fear."

"Inflation and unemployment choked the people in the country and the government should drive the bulldozer on these problems but the BJP's bulldozer is driven by hate to create fear."

Sonia Gandhi on April 5 while addressing the parliamentary party had said that the revival of the party was essential for democracy and the results of the elections were "shocking" and "painful". She had said that it was important to put forth a roadmap and for that a 'Shivir (meeting)' should be held.

"That is where the views of a larger number of colleagues and party representatives will be heard. They will contribute to put forward a clear roadmap on the urgent steps to be taken by our party on how best to meet the challenges we are confronted with," she said.

Source: IANS