Congress to huddle on Tuesday before likely Jaipur event to discuss path forward

Moving on from concern to confabulation (Chinta se Chintan tak), Congress is all set to hold a brainstorming conclave or Chintan Shivir soon — on the lines of Pachmarhi (1998) and Shimla (2003) — likely to be held in Jaipur to deliberate the strategy for going forward following the 5-0 drubbing in the recently-concluded Assembly elections to five states.

Top leaders of the party including Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh and others, will huddle on Tuesday to chalk out plans for the mega event. Jaipur had previously seen such a mega event in January 2013 when Rahul Gandhi was named as Party Vice President – the first to occupy the post after Arjun Singh in 1980.

Sources told DH that a small group of leaders will be meeting to decide on the venue and date as well as the themes for discussion. There is an overwhelming suggestion from leaders to hold the session in either Gujarat Or Himachal Pradesh, which are going to polls later this year. Himachal capital Shimla is one of the main suggestions.

The decision to hold Chintan Shivir was taken at a meeting of the Congress Working Committee on March 13, days after the party was routed in the Assembly elections.

Loud alarm bells have been sounded in Congress circles after its massive drubbing in Punjab and its failed attempt to oust BJP in Uttarakhand and Goa, besides a devastating show in UP despite Priyanka Gandhi Vadra leading the charge from the front.

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The results — which came in the backdrop of pandemic driven economic slowdown and criticism of Covid-19 mismanagement by the ruling BJP — is a big shot in the arm for the saffron party and raises question marks over the Congress' ability to capitalise on anti-incumbency against the ruling BJP at the Centre, but also in state polls where the grand old party had a stronger local face like in Uttarakhand.

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has said that the Chintan Shivir was necessary, as it 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.

Congress, which had held both the earlier Chintan Shivirs when it was in the Opposition and finally returned to power after 10 years in 2004, is hoping for a miracle formula at the proposed event in Jaipur with a realisation dawning on the leadership that 'sacrifices' will have to be made both at individual and party level to keep the Opposition relevant.

With Sharad Pawar recently ruling out the buzz surrounding his being in contention for heading UPA and once again reiterating that Congress has to be the fulcrum of any successful Opposition alliance against the BJP, even as Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress has been making stirring discord against the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, the ball is back in the Congress' court to put its house in order.

It is all the more relevant as Congress is the principal Opposition party in both Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat — that are going to polls this year — and Madhya Pradesh, which goes to polls next year alongside the only two Congress-ruled states of Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

The 'organisational weakness' that Congress has repeatedly flagged after each electoral defeat in the last 10 years is yet to be addressed in most states, including the Uttar Pradesh, which sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha.

Concern over the continuing failures and weaknesses in the party was expressed at a recent Congress Working Committee meeting and attempts were made some days back at the highest level to resolve differences with G-23, a ginger group within the party, which had called for a complete overhaul of the organisation and suggested leadership change at the top.

After the victory in Punjab, a buoyant AAP is making a big push in the upcoming round of Assembly polls in two states besides Jammu and Kashmir. Congress, which lost Delhi to Arvind Kejriwal's party after 15 years of uninterrupted rule, and Punjab this year, can ill afford to let an Opposition party replace it in more states just before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

(With DHNS inputs)

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