Cong leaders want party to brainstorm in Gujarat

 As Congress looks to revive its fortunes, leaders from Gujarat want the high command to hold the party’s brainstorming session in the state, where BJP won all the 26 Lok Sabha seats in the recent elections.

Congress leaders from the state, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the message that the party is holding the meeting in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state could perk up the demoralised cadre.

The leaders also argue that the Congress’ vote share in Gujarat is still intact and the party has 55 MLAs in the state Assembly.

“We do not have a situation like Uttar Pradesh or Bihar where the party organisation is missing,” a senior Congress leader and a former Gujarat minister said.Modi’s move to the Centre as the Prime Minister has also led to loosening of his iron grip on the Gujarat government, the leader claimed.

‘No match to Modi’

He contended that Chief Minister Anandiben Patel, though considered as a tough taskmaster, is no match with Modi when it comes to control over the administrative machinery across the state.

The Congress had tried hard to puncture Modi’s claims of development in Gujarat, with a senior leader also questioning his statement in Parliament of the state getting 24x7 power supply. 

A key meeting of the Congress in Gujarat will attract journalists from across the country and the opportunity could be used by the party to “expose” Modi’s claims of development in the state, the leader said.

The Congress is planning to hold a chintan shivir ahead of the budget session of Parliament some time next month to deliberate on its electoral loss and chart the course of action.

The Congress is also debating whether to put an end to the era of coalitions and go it alone, keeping in view the future, particularly against the backdrop of BJP winning a simple majority on its own in the recent Lok Sabha elections.

The Congress, apparently tired with experiments, had turned to veterans Mallikarjun Kharge and Ghulam Nabi Azad to guide it in Parliament.

Kharge and Azad were appointed as leaders of the Congress in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha respectively.