Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge
Credit: PTI File Photo
New Delhi: As the I.N.D.I.A bloc gets ready for the Bihar Assembly polls, a 'rich-in-symbolism' meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) will be held in Patna on Wednesday where top leaders will discuss electoral strategy and a a national roadmap for the ‘vote chori’ campaign.
This will be an extended Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting where party's Chief Ministers, state presidents and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leaders also participate with regular members and permanent and special invitees.
Party president Mallikarjun Kharge will chair the high profile meeting at Sadaqat Bhavan, the Bihar Congress headquarters, that will see Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi is expected to give his outline of the campaign against 'vote theft'.
Besides the 'vote chori' campaign, the Congress is likely to finetune its campaign theme for the Bihar polls, in which it is expected to question the 20-year-rule of JD(U)'s Nitish Kumar as well as his long-term ally BJP.
Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal on Tuesday highlighted how Bihar has been "deeply pivotal" in the Congress' legacy citing Mahatma Gandhi launching Champaran Satyagraha and the emergence of stalwarts like Dr Rajendra Prasad and Jagjivan Ram.
"Today, as Bihar again faces crossroads between politics of hope, social justice and development on one side, and hatred, violence, and histrionic unemployment and destruction of the Constitution on the other -- our CWC meeting is being held here to send a message to the people of Bihar about our commitment to Bihar’s welfare," he said.
He also said Bihar has been "witness to the BJP’s worst attempt at election rigging so far -- the hastily done, botched up SIR".
While the CWC is being held in Patna for the first time in independent India, the meeting is also keenly watched by allies like RJD, as the Congress top leaders are expected to draw redlines for its Bihar leaders in seat negotiations. Congress held its AICC Sessions in Patna in 1912 and in Gaya in 1922.
So far, Congress has not declared that top RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav would be the Chief Ministerial face of the alliance, much to the unease of the lead party in the alliance. While Congress is upbeat with the 'Voter Adhikar Yatra', which they say have attracted huge traction due to Rahul's leadership, the party is also raising its bargaining chip on the number of seats it will contest.
Congress is seeking a judicious distribution of seats and is buoyed by the response the 'yatra' has received. Party Bihar in-charge Krishna Allavaru recently said there should be equitable distribution of “good” and “bad” seats and there should not be dumping seats that are not winnable.
Allavaru said the CWC meeting is "not just an internal Congress process but will become the focal point" of national deliberations on Bihar and the country’s pressing issues. "Serious matters" like unemployment, inflation, crime, paper leaks, atrocities against women and the plight of farmers will be discussed at the meeting, he said.
Bihar Congress president Rajesh Ram said the meeting will define the direction of the hopes and struggles of Bihar’s people and send a decisive message against vote thieves while expressing hope that it will send new political messages.