The party's decision to clear its candidates ahead of the election in Gujarat will be a change from the past, as the Congress is known to dither till the very end.
NEW DELHI: Taking a leaf out of Mayawati's book, the Congress party has begun its poll preparations for Gujarat well in advance of the elections scheduled for the end of the year.
The exercise got off in March this year with the setting up of election committees that will look after manifesto, publicity, training and booth management. However, the most significant aspect of this whole exercise is the party's attempts to finalise its candidates by September, to enable them to begin their campaign well in advance.
The party's decision to clear its candidates ahead of the election in Gujarat will be a change from the past, as the Congress is known to dither till the very end before declaring its list of candidates. The state leadership of the party is already fine-tuning its strategy and the party is hoping to sew up constituency-level alliances with social groups disgruntled with Modi, like the Patels, Kohls and Dalits.
Some thought and planning is also being given to ensure that the campaign is done in a systematic manner and built up from the bottom to the top level and done region wise. The party first began with a cycle yatra in the Saurasthra region, which was followed by kisan rallies in North Gujarat and a similar exercise in the tribal dominated areas. Party chief Sonia Gandhi has already addressed two rallies of tribals and farmers.
A redeeming feature of the whole exercise appears to be the emphasis on streamlining and fine-tuning the party organisation. In addition to the committees already set up to look into the manifesto, publicity and booth management, it is also planning to set up a committee comprising two senior leaders from the Centre to help coordinate and supervise the elections at the constituency level. According to senior leaders from Gujarat, the party has just completed the first round of training camps for workers manning the booth and elections committees.
The Congress leadership realises that it faces a huge battle against Narendra Modi. Several internal surveys commissioned by the party beginning early this year show the Hindutva strongman is still ahead, but encouragingly, it is no longer a one horse race.
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