Congress changing its strategy for 2024 Lok Sabha polls

New Delhi: The Congress is understood to be contemplating a new political strategy for the grand old party’s battle with the Bharatiya Janata Party in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.

The idea is seemingly borne out of former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s desire that all strong senior and regional leaders in the party should prepare for the upcoming electoral battle with the saffron front and be ready for contesting the general elections.

Sources stated that Rahul has expressed this desire to the Congress’ top leadership that “senior leaders of the party, former Chief Ministers or leaders who are in the race for Chief Ministership. Everyone should contest Lok Sabha elections.”

The feedback to the grand old party’s top leadership was apparently given by the Wayanad MP days after the launch of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.

The Congress hopes that this move could ensure major political battles in various states and help enthuse party cadre, which is in a demotivated state after suffering repeated losses in states across the country, sources said.

With senior leaders in the fray, funding and strategy required for these electoral confrontations would also not be a problem for Congress as these leaders are considered much more capable at individual levels, sources pointed out.

The idea of initiating major regional electoral battles seems to have been floated after the recent spurt in BJP’s apparent support amongst the masses after the Pran Pratishtha at Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in Ayodhya.

Senior leaders who have been sounded out for the forthcoming Lok Sabha political battle: 

Haryana: Bhupendra Singh Hooda, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Kumari Selja, Deependra Hooda  

Delhi: Ajay Maken, Arvinder Singh Lovely

Rajasthan: Ashok Gehlot, Sachin Pilot

Madhya Pradesh: Kamalnath, Digvijay Singh, Jeetu Patwari

Maharashtra: Ashok Chavan, Nana Patole, Bala Saheb Thorat, Prithvi Raj Chavan

Gujarat: Shakti Singh Gohil, Amit Chavda, Jagdish Thakor, Arjun Modwadia

Kerala: KC Venugopal

Karnataka: Jairam Ramesh

Chhattisgarh: Bhupesh Baghel, TS Singh Dev

Uttarakhand: Harish Rawat, Ganesh Gondiyal, Yashpal Arya

Leaf out of BJP’s political strategy notebook

Congress' newest "electoral contemplation" seems to be based on its arch-rival BJP’s political strategy implemented successfully in the recent assembly polls, where several of the sitting Union Cabinet Ministers were asked to enter the electoral fray in various states.

This had ensured the consolidation of votes in favour of the BJP, due to regional satraps entering the political battle. And helped the saffron front secure all three states, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, where this electoral policy was implemented, sources pointed out.

However, as Congress leaders aren’t as disciplined as their BJP counterparts, the implementation of this political strategy is expected to be very tough. Most of these leaders are either sitting cosy with their Rajya Sabha seats or are enjoying a semi-retired status and disseminating only political gyan. “It would be very tough for the Congress high command to ensure that these senior leaders don battle fatigue again and that too against Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is at the top of his popularity amongst the voters,” sources added.

The grand old party, however, doesn’t have much choice for the forthcoming electoral battle as it needs to think out of the box to stop the march of PM Modi towards his third successive term.