Cong plans CWC meet in Guj before LS poll declaration

Taking the battle to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state, Congress is planning to hold a meeting of its top decision-making body – the Congress Working Committee – in Gujarat later this month.

The CWC meeting in Gujarat is expected to discuss the Congress manifesto, which includes Rahul Gandhi’s showpiece promise of minimum income guarantee and endorse it by adopting a resolution in this regard.

The meeting would also be the first since the appointment of new AICC General Secretaries Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Jyotiraditya Scindia, who will now be members of the party’s top decision-making body.

The meeting, expected to be held before the notification of the Lok Sabha elections, will be followed by a rally to be addressed by Rahul and other top leaders of the party.

By holding a meeting of the top leaders in Gujarat, the Congress is also sending a message to Modi that it would not shy away from taking him on in his stronghold.

In 2017, BJP managed to retain Gujarat even after being in power for 22 years, but Congress succeeded in reining Modi’s party under the three-figure mark – at 99 – and at the same time improving its tally to 77 as against the 57 seats it had won in 2012.

Congress is also planning a second meeting of the CWC after the declaration of the Lok Sabha elections. This meeting will also be held outside Delhi.

Last year, top Congress leaders had travelled to Sewagram near Wardha in Maharashtra for a meeting of the CWC to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

Rahul is scheduled to address an election rally at Dharampur in Valsad district on Thursday, but it was not immediately clear whether the CWC will be held then or the party had some other plans.

Incidentally, Congress considers Valsad as a kind of a lucky charm as Indira Gandhi, and Sonia Gandhi had addressed rallies here when out of power and then went on to win elections. Rahul hopes to recreate the magic.