Party president Rahul Gandhi attending over 178 rallies across the country, grading of winnable seats and finalising the manifesto points in the upcoming Central Working Committee meet are some of the steps that party is taking.
Gearing up for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the Congress is taking a slew of steps to counter the BJP's sustained campaign. Party president Rahul Gandhi attending over 178 rallies across the country, grading of winnable seats and finalising the manifesto points in the upcoming Central Working Committee meet are some of the steps that party is taking.
Sources in the party said that soon after the grand old party's surge after its heartland wins in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, internal surveys had pointed to a positive trend for the Congress. "Our initial surveys showed that the BJP was winning 178-185 seats. But with recent developments, the BJP has surged ahead with a headstart in over 35-40 additional seats," said a party leader. After the Pulwama attack and the ensuing IAF strike, the BJP has consolidated votes on a narrative of nationalism, said the leader.
To counter these, the party has now chalked out a campaign trail for Gandhi in over 178-180 locations. The campaign trail has been designed by the all party's general secretaries.
In the upcoming CWC meet, to be held in Ahmedabad on March 12, the party will finalise the party's manifesto, which has been in the works since October last year. Decision on forging alliances, with several state units up in arms against them, will be finalised. The party's screening committee has graded seats on the basis of their winnability, and the most promising ones will be given a war room and better resources, and the CWC will decide on these.
With several general secretaries going to be in the fray for the Lok Sabha elections, the CWC will also be a last word on sharing of responsibilities as they will be in their respective states.
Apart from taking stock of the party's inventory and resources, the CWC will also pass several resolutions, including on joblessness, farmer's strife, and one asking the BJP to not politicise the Ram Mandir-Babri Masjid dispute as well as the Pulwama attacks and the ensuing IAF strikes.
RaGa rally
Gandhi was in Goa as well as in Odisha on Friday, in Hyderabad in Telangana as well as Haveri in North Karnataka on Saturday, and will be in Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu on March 13 and then in Agartala in Tripura on March 20.
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