The Congress’s Chintan Shivir in Udaipur will approve a time-bound action-plan for structural changes in the organisation, set in motion a long-drawn people’s movement on select issues till 2024, and send across a clear message to regional parties that if the Congress remains weak, any opposition alliance will also suffer, senior functionaries of the party told .
A party leader familiar with the matter also said that they would not go “blindly” into an alliance and cited Gandhi’s recent announcement in Telangana that the party would contest alone in the southern state.
To strengthen its position against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as well as among Opposition parties, the Congress will launch a mass campaign on issues such as inflation, economic mismanagement due to demonetisation and faulty GST laws, communal polarisation, and delimitation in J&K, the leader said.
The Congress is no stranger to Chintan Shivirs. But for the first time, it will set time-bound steps for organisational overhaul, identify issues, and prepare action-plans — all aimed at the 2024 general elections.
meanwhile Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Friday launched a blistering attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, charging that it has become clear that his mantra of ‘minimum government, maximum governance’ means keeping the country in a permanent state of polarisation, “brutalising” minorities and “threatening” political opponents.
In her inaugural address at the party’s ‘Chintan Shivir’ here, she urged delegates to deliberate with an open mind and send out a clear message of strong organisation and unity.
She said the Shivir is also an occasion to deliberate on the many challenges ahead of us and bring organisational changes.
“It is both ‘Chintan’ about national issues and meaningful ‘aatmachintan’ (self-introspection) about our party organisation,” she said.
Gandhi charged that it has become “painfully clear” what Prime Minister Modi and his colleagues really meany by their frequently used slogan of maximum governance, minimum government.
