After successive electoral defeats of the party, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi are making attempts to reach out to the grass-root workers to seek their views on “how to revive and resurrect” the party’s fortunes. While Sonia has written a letter to State units chiefs, Rahul is likely to undertake a padyatra this month to establish a direct “connect” with the party workers as well the common man.
Ahead of the March 2015 AICC session, Sonia has written to all the PCC chiefs, general secretaries and secretaries asking them to directly involve the party workers in the day-to-day affairs. She has also sought by February end their assistance in “restructuring” the Congress from top to bottom and decide upon core issues which affect the common man of the country. Congress sources said that AICC meeting in March is likely to take up suggestions to further make a blueprint for the Congress in the year to come.
A top AICC functionary said that modalities of Rahul’s padyatra are being worked out and it will be announced shortly. The padyatra will coincide with the timings of March AICC session and the Centre’s Budget Session.
In the recent past, Rahul has earned the dubious distinction of leading the party to defeat wherever he campaigned. “He has realised there is a missing link between him and the voters and thus would now undertake a padyatra,” a senior AICC secretary said.
Sonia’s efforts to reach out to the cadres, has come a week after Rahul directed party general secretaries and State in-charge to get feedback from district and block levels and submit the report by February end.
Of late, Rahul is holding regular interaction sessions with the party workers in groups. Discussions are based on issues like how to widen the party’s reach, the shape of Congress organisation and its possible overhaul, and need to push the core ideology of Congress among people and the cadre.
The leadership is also understood to have given a thought to regain its hold of “liberal” Hindu votes since an impression has been created that the Congress was only talking of minorities and is not bothered about Hindu votes, which has benefited the BJP in successive polls beginning with the lok Sabha last year.
“A section in the party believes that the party’s secularism plank was stretched to the extent that it started looking like advocating minority-ism and the perception needs to be corrected. The view is that the upper caste Hindus especially Brahmins, who were traditional voters of Congress, shifted to the BJP in the last lok Sabha polls while the party has lost out on Dalit and OBC votes with the rise of caste politics especially in the Hindi heartland,” said a senior AICC functionary.
All these issues have come up for discussions and the leadership is keen to get the views of grass-roots workers on them. One of the issues on which the party is also focused is how to widen the party’s reach and connect with NGOs, employees’ unions and other bodies.