Congress' Chintan Shivir to focus on party revamp, clear stance on key issues

The Udaipur ‘Chintan Shivir’ of the Congress will be different from the previous such conclaves as it will spell out a mechanism for implementing the “action-oriented” decisions taken at the brainstorming session that is aimed at reviving the organisation in the run up to the 2024 elections, sources said on Wednesday.

The “mandate” of the three-day conclave starting on Friday is “not to make philosophical, PhD type declarations but actionable points” that sends a clear message to the cadre. Sources said the main point of discussion would be about how to go about the 2024 elections and the actions the organisation should take.

The session comes against the backdrop of a series of electoral setbacks and leadership crisis in the party and the leaders are clear that “cosmetic changes are not going to work for the party”, as it is facing the “worst crisis” in its history with its MPs in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha together do not count 100.

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Sources said the main drawback of the 1998 Pachmari conclave where it decided that the Congress will not go for any alliances and the 2003 Shimla conclave where it reversed that decision was that both did not have concrete actionable points or a monitoring mechanism to ensure that the decisions are implemented.

However, a senior leader who is involved in the planning said, the Udaipur conclave will be different as the ‘Nav Sankalp’ declaration will clearly give a clear-cut action plan with a monitoring system to check its implementation.

The session is also different from previous similar exercises. During the 2003 conclave, sources said, Congress had over a dozen Chief Ministers despite being in Opposition and now at the time of Udaipur conclave, it is in power in just two states.

Though no decision on alliances are expected, sources said, the Congress is likely to send a clear message that if it is weak, there cannot be an effective coalition. If the Congress is strong, the coalition will also be effective. If we don’t change, it is not just the Congress but the entire coalition will suffer, sources said.

The thinking in the party is that it is not going to have alliances with its “eyes wide shut” as it wants to strengthen itself first.

The deliberations at the session will also focus on an agitation and mobilisation roadmap for the next two years prepared by a committee headed by Digvijaya Singh. With states having their own issues, sources said the roadmap will have state-specific agitations.

Another highlight of the session would be a separate discussion on farmers and agricultural workers. In the previous ‘Chintan Shivirs’, sources said, Congress discussed the farm sector as part of the economic group’s deliberations but this time, owing to the emerging political scenario, it has been decided to delink it and debate it separately.