Congress readies battle gear for early LS polls

Anticipating an early Lok Sabha election, state Congress leaders on Saturday directed the party’s rank and file to pull up their socks while the underperformers were warned of being shown the door.

AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka K C Venugopal, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Dinesh Gundu Rao and Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah will review all 28 Lok Sabha constituencies in marathon meetings for three days starting August 3. “We have enough information that the election will be advanced to December this year and a notification may be out in October. This effectively leaves us with just two months to prepare,” Rao told reporters after a 3-hour-long meeting with the party’s office-bearers.

In the meeting, Siddaramaiah asked party workers to learn from the mistakes during the recent Assembly polls. “Our government had given so many pro-people programmes, but the BJP resorted to its Hindutva campaign. Listing out Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s failures went in vain,” he said. Rao said the party will be reorganised ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. “I have asked all our secretaries to submit reports on the functioning of block committees before August 15. Efficient workers will be identified to be appointed as heads of block and district committees,” he said.

The party resolved to focus on highlighting the BJP-led Centre’s failures. “The Congress emerged with the highest vote share in the recent Assembly election, which means people haven’t really kept us away. It was for emotional reasons, and not development, that the party suffered a setback. We will go to the people exposing how the BJP’s propaganda was full of lies. They tried to brand us as anti-Hindu, whereas Congress belongs to all. We’ll try to change perception about our party,” he said. Apparently, some party workers expressed concern that partnering with the JD(S) for the Lok Sabha polls may not be in the Congress’ best interests. Rao told them that it was the party’s decision. “Some may have problems, but everyone will be convinced because it’s important for secular parties to come together,” Rao said.