Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge
Credit: PTI File Photo
New Delhi: Taking forward the reception the 'Voter Adhikar Yatra' received in Bihar, the Congress will hold a meeting of its working committee in Patna on September 24, where the leadership is slated to finetune its electoral strategy for the State and finalise its campaign on 'vote chori' against the BJP.
This will be an extended Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting where the 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 meeting.
The choice of venue indicates the Congress’ plans to leverage on the two-week-long Rahul Gandhi's yatra in Bihar, which leaders cutting across parties claim has resonance on the ground. Congress managers said they want to take it forward by sending a message to the cadre and voters.
Sources said the Congress leadership will deliberate on the campaign strategy for Bihar elections, future polls and a specific campaign on 'vote chori' with Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, promising to drop a "hydrogen bomb" of expose.
Besides Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, top leaders like Sonia Gandhi, KC Venugopal, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Ajay Maken and party Chief Ministers Siddaramaiah, A Revanth Reddy and Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, as well as Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, among others, will attend.
The meeting comes within a month of the conclusion of 'Voter Adhikar Yatra' led by Rahul Gandhi and RJD's Tejashwi Yadav on September 1 as also in the midst of seat-sharing talks between the 'Maha Gabandhan' (grand alliance) partners.
The 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.
Earlier, at a meeting with Bihar leaders, the central leadership had asked them not to rest on Rahul Gandhi’s ‘yatra’ but take the message of ‘vote chori’ to the people. But at the same time, sources said, they were also told to highlight how 'vote chori' is linked to basic issues like price rise and unemployment, among other issues.
The meeting is also expected to finalise a national roadmap for the ‘vote chori’ campaign besides passing a Bihar-specific resolution, sources said.