Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said that local leaders were the real backbone of the party and until they were empowered, the grand old party could not regain its golden past.
“You are the backbone of the organisation. Until you work and execute our programmes in the field, we cannot strengthen ourselves and regain our lost glory,” Rahul said while interacting with Congress district and city chiefs through video conferencing on Thursday morning to get direct feedback from them.
“We know and appreciate your power and contribution. I assure you all that now you will not only be strengthened by giving you more power, but your feedback too will decide every action, including selection of candidate,” the Congress president added.
Rahul, who could manage to interact with only half a dozen district chiefs of UP on Thursday, said he had interacted with district chiefs from West Bengal, Odisha, Maharashtra and other states.
The Congress chief assured the local leaders that he would regularly speak to them and take their advice and services in ensuring more power to them at the ground level.
To strike a better rapport with local leaders, Rahul also enquired about the well-being of their family members and also sought inputs on local issues.
Majority of district chiefs informed the Congress president that the party needed to be strengthened at the booth, block and panchayat levels. Some also complained that the state leaders never interacted with them and that decisions were taken without their consent.
Rahul assured them that this was just a beginning and that he would be contacting them at least once every fortnight.
Sources said that after launching ‘Shakti App’ to connect with Congress workers up to the booth level, the exercise was adopted by Rahul Gandhi in the belief that the two regional parties — Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party — may not align with the Congress in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.