Cong to hold CWC meeting to strategise for 2024 Lok Sabha polls today

New Delhi: With workers’ morale down after the recent Assembly poll debacle, the Congress has called a meeting of its top decision body Working Committee here on December 21 to discuss strategy for the Lok Sabha election in April-May and initiate preparatory work to hit the ground running to take on the ruling BJP.

This will be the third meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) since it was constituted by party president Mallikarjun Kharge in August this year. The deliberations will come two days after a much-delayed meeting of the I.N.D.I.A bloc and days before the party celebrates its 139th Foundation Day with a mega rally in RSS bastion Nagpur.

Once the CWC finalises its roadmap, sources said Kharge may also make some major announcements at the December 28 Nagpur rally

Sources said the primary agenda for the meeting is to set the tone for the party's campaign for the Lok Sabha elections while there will also be discussions on a proposal for Rahul Gandhi to undertake the second edition of Bharat Jodo Yatra from east to west starting January and a review of the disappointing Assembly election results.

The top leadership believes the defeat, especially in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh where the party had a good chance to form the government but failed owing to state leadership's handling of affairs, has demoralised the workers and the CWC needs to provide a new direction and roadmap for them ahead of Lok Sabha polls, sources said.

A senior leader told DH, "we lost Madhya Pradesh, thanks to the arrogance of one man. We also lost Chhattisgarh because of one man's adamant stand. Both states we could have won with ease. Rajasthan was difficult but at least we had some solace there as the performance was not that bad as expected."

The leader also said the party has been concentrating on the Assembly polls for the past three-four months and several other issues could not be addressed. The CWC will have to step up as time has run out for them on preparations for the Lok Sabha elections, the leader said.

The party also made changes in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh leadership, with a focus of bringing in younger faces in leadership. Both Kamal Nath in Madhya Pradesh and Bhupesh Baghel in Chhattisgarh faced the axe for the party's inability to win the Assembly polls this time.

The Congress has faced criticism from I.N.D.I.A partners for putting the bloc's efforts on the backburner but the elections did not turn out better for the Congress. Evolving a "core positive agenda" and seat sharing mechanism will come up for discussion at the Tuesday meeting of the non-BJP bloc.

At the CWC, sources said, the leadership may also discuss what would be the party's stand and how much it could concede to partners. "There has to be a roadmap and it will come," a senior leader said.

The party also believes that a second edition of Bharat Jodo Yatra, though in hybrid mode, from one of the north-east states to Gujarat highlighting unemployment and price rise would also have an impact.