Enshrouded by controversies, Punjab Congress has decided to move on with its election agenda for 2017 Assembly polls.
Its Election Manifesto Committee is gearing up to meet representatives of different sections of society for formulating its policies prior to the State Assembly elections that are just about six months away.
The meeting, scheduled for June 30, is a part of its newly-formulated strategy of interacting with the masses for giving an impression of being a pro-people party in the wake of Aam Aadmi Party’s prominent presence in Punjab.
Already, Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh is going ahead with his programme — Halke vich Captain (Captain in assembly constituency) — to come in direct contact with the people by covering all 117 assembly segments of the State.
The meeting comes at a time when AAP is already holding ‘Punjab Dialogue’ or ‘Bolda Punjab’ campaign aimed at formulating a policy and shape its manifesto for the forthcoming assembly polls slated for 2017.
Under its novel initiative, AAP is holding meetings with each section of society including farmers, doctors, teachers, youngsters, industrialists, among others, giving them a platform to exchange their ideas and find out the issues plaguing the State.
Working on the similar lines, the Congress party’s manifesto committee would meet the intelligentsia in its June 30 meeting at Jalandhar, while its members would meet the industrialists and traders later on.
Party’s election manifesto committee would hold its meeting on Thursday at Jalandhar…The meeting would discuss problems being faced by different sections of the society including the farmers, youth, medicos, professionals, sportsmen, intellectuals, et al,” a Congress leader told The Pioneer.
The leader said that following the discussion with the people from all walks of life, the party would get a fair idea and would help it to set the agenda of the upcoming Congress Government in Punjab.
The meeting would be chaired by senior Congressmen, including former Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Punjab’s former Finance Minister Manpreet Badal and senior Congress leader Gurpratap Singh Mann.
“AAP came to Punjab’s political scene and is establishing direct contact with the people. At the same time, Chief Minister (Parkash Singh) Badal, his deputy son Sukhbir (Badal) and daughter-in-law Harsimrat (Badal) are holding sangat darshans (open house) quite frequently now. So, there is dire need to know what people actually want and what their real problems are,” said Congress leader, requesting anonymity.
He said that even though the party chief Capt Amarinder was also “out in the field” interacting with people and knowing their grievances besides all other party leaders and workers, “the manifesto committee, which has been given the responsibility of setting agenda on which Congress would contest polls, also need to sit together with all sections and know their expectations with the new Government”.
After manifesto committee’s meeting on Thursday, its members would also “personally” visit the important trade organizations to have first-hand stock of the reasons behind poor plight of the businesses and trading community.