With the time for the Congress district presidents as well as local in-charges of the Party’s frontal organisations to provide names of 32 loyal Congressmen in each Assembly constituency along with dully filled 15-page Form is now coming to an end, poll strategist Prashant Kishor as well as AICC general secretary Madhusudan Mistri and State president, Nirmal Khatri, would now start touring to each Assembly constituency.
They will reportedly verify whether the information given to them had enough `substance’ and they could go ahead to execute the `Strategy’ set up by Kishor to revive the oldest political outfit in this biggest state of the country.
``The time of providing the details sought by Prashant Kishor is now coming to an end and from beginning of April, the poll strategist as well as Mistri and Khatri would start touring the Assembly areas to verify whether the information provided to them had `substance’ which would help them to implement the plan for come back of the Party and form next Government”, disclosed Satyadeo Tripathi, chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Media Committee.
Tripathi, who remained minister in the State about four decades back said that the morale of the Party and it’s every members is very high after their recent success in by-polls at Saharanpur and now they were making efforts to make a comeback here in UP.
“Recent Bihar elections and by-polls in the State in which we also won one of the Assembly constituency all pointed that people still remembered the good old days which they had during Congress government’s regime and if we can prove that we are still capable of giving them a clean and strict administration, then they will definitely vote for us”, Tripathi said while claiming that the main plan of the Party is now to make a reach to every citizen and tell them that they had already seen governments of all other Parties so they must not vote for the Congress if they wanted good old days.
“The job of Mistri, Khatri, Kishor and all other senior Congress leaders is to visit each Assembly constituency and used the services of 32 dedicated Congressmen to make a reach to the people and tell them about advantages of having Congress government in the State as well as how the other Parties particularly Bharatiya Janta Party, our main rival in the next Assembly election are just trying to divide the society just to make political gain out of it”, Tripathi added.
It may be mentioned that Prashant Kishor, during his recent meeting with party leaders here in lucknow, had sought names and telephone numbers of 20 active party workers from each Vidhan Sabha segment. The frontal organisations have also been asked to submit two names each from every Assembly segment.
These party workers are to be ones who are not ticket seekers. The list has to be submitted by March 31 along with a 15-page form, duly filled. Apparently, Kishor wants to directly interact with these party workers and work out the strategy for each segment. He will also keep a watch on the progress in each assembly segment. He sought details like how the Party failed to perform well, which caste or community not voted for the Party, which community can be easily attracted to vote for the Party, what are the caste equations in each Assembly constituency etc.
Interestingly most of the local leaders are finding it difficult to find 32 active Party workers who are ready to work for the Party but without seeking a ticket for themselves.
“We had enough of workers who were loyal to Congress now for over last three decades even when we are not in power here in UP but providing their names to Kishor is very difficult as majority of them were not ready to contribute their full time without confirmation that what they would gain out of it”, disclosed a district president hailing from Eastern UP town.
“It is very difficult to convince our old and dedicated colleagues to work selflessly for the party without expecting an immediate return”, he pointed while adding that everyone wants instant gains and no one has the patience to wait longer for a ticket or any other post incase the Party come back to power.
Another district president apprehended that the exercise may set up a parallel party organisation in every district. “Those from the mainstream Congress are unwilling to be listed as workers — they all want to be recognised as leaders. If Kishore still insists on 20 names, then we may have to enlist outside support and this will lead to clashes within the party,” he explained.
A senior Congress leader who earlier remained as UPCC chief, however welcomes Kishor’s move and said that he had hit the nail on the head. “Congressmen are now hopeful about the future of the Party. Kishor had identified the malaise that is affecting the Party in this biggest state having maximum seats. In the state, we have no workers, only leaders and this has crippled the Organisation because no one is ready to work at the grassroots level. If Kishor has managed to identify the problem, he can also treat it,” the leader said.
Satyadeo Tripathi, however was not ready to buy the above theory.
“Every Congress worker was ready to work for the revival of the Party. At the moment, we are all waiting to see the Congress back in power and every party worker — big or small — is ready to work towards the goal,”he said while ruling out that any single (read Kishor) could do any miracle for the Party.