Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday asked the AICC general secretaries to work overtime and put extra efforts to take the party forward and regain the lost morale of the cadre due to successive electoral losses. Sources said Rahul asked them to meet party’s block and district level workers and prepare a report within two months on how to take the party forward.
Rahul had called all the AICC General Secretaries and the State in-charge to introspect and deliberate on the reasons for the party losing its ground from within the common man considered to be party’s niche for centuries. The party’s second in command conveyed that since the Narendra Modi Government is “certainly not meeting the over-hyped expectations of the people who voted for him”, it is time for the party cadre to strengthen themselves within the organisation from now onwards as the general elections will be held only after five years.
He reportedly asked the general secretaries to target Delhi, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and work hard to save the party atleast from successive humiliating losses. Sources said that Rahul also conveyed the party men to comprehend the dynamics of coming together of the Janata Parivar and prepare foothold accordingly. “Rahul has asked the general secretaries to meet the workers at block and district levels to get their feedback on how to take the party forward in terms of strength, ideology and other aspects. They have been given two months to prepare a report which would be submitted to the party and then a special AICC session would be held to discuss it,” sources said.
One of the AICC office bearer also present in the meeting said that Rahul appreciated the way members of Rajya Sabha were vocal and was able to communicate and present the Opposition stand in an upright manner and expected the party workers should adapt the similar style of aggressive functioning from grass-root level to top. The meeting is also reviewed as Rahul’s ongoing effort to strengthen the party ever since the massive losses in the lok Sabha polls. In the past few months, the party second in command has held interactions with young and elderly party leaders from various states in groups to take their feedback on how to strengthen the party at the grassroots and make a turn around.
The defeat trail of Congress has not stopped since the lok Sabha polls, which saw its tally dropping to an abysmal 44 from 206 in 2009. The party not only lost power in four states - Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir but also suffered setback as the numbers dwindled.