With the inevitable prospect of poll debacle, the Congress is preparing itself to face the May 16 music — the day counting takes place for the nine-phase lok Sabha polls. AICC general secretary Ajay Maken, who is party’s communication head, has convened a meeting of Congress spokespersons on Thursday to train them in shielding the high command from the blame for electoral drubbing.
Congress’ media team is set for a brainstorming session to chalk out a strategy to face poll results boldly and counter impressions of any Narendra Modi wave for the rout. The party has already trashed the exit polls. The two hour-long interaction, in which all its national spokespersons and television panelists are likely to participate at 15 Rakabaganj Road known as Congress War Room, will deliberate on the strategy of the party in the event of exit polls’ projections stand correct and also to avoid a Modi versus Rahul Gandhi contest.
They will also try to dispel the notion that the poll fiasco is the beginning of the end of the grand old party. The meet will stress on a course correction. Sources said that party’s communication department has drafted some dos and don’ts for spokespersons and TV panelists when they face the media after the results begin to trickle in.
Sources said that the spokespersons have been asked to cite statistics to hammer home their point. They have also been provided with State-wise statistics of seats won and lost by parties as well as their percentage of votes in the crucial States. On whether the election results will be a reflection on Rahul Gandhi’s leadership, a spokesperson said they have already been asked to repose faith in party vice-president’s leadership.
At the dinner party hosted by Sonia Gandhi for the PM and CWC members on Wednesday, the Congress president conveyed that the spokesperson should be graceful in delivering the party’s viewpoint on the people’s mandate and none should be made a “scapegoat”. This piece of advice from the party high command came amid speculation that some of the senior leaders (read sycophants) would attempt to put the entire blame on the PM. However, Rahul Gandhi was not present at the farewell dinner hosted for the PM.
Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi’s office clarified the media that he had met PM on Saturday and thanked him. The Congress vice-president had told the PM that he could not attend the dinner as he is out of town. On issues and emerging perception that the Prime Minister was kept out of entire campaign, the spokespersons have also been asked to argue that Manmohan Singh is not a mass leader but a professional and an economist.
“Singh’s able stewardship” has to be hailed at any cost as even the Opposition has hailed him by underlining the significance that he had led the country through very difficult times when the world economy was down,” said a spokesperson, part of the team.
On questions about Sonia-Manmohan relationship in the wake of “controversial” books by UPA insiders, the team has to put forth that the relationship between the Prime Minister and the Congress president was based on an ideal division of labour, which saw perfect harmonisation between the Government and the party. The party has to maintain the AICC principle that there cannot be any better relationship between a party president and a Prime Minister and dismiss as “rumours and disinformation” reports of differences between the two.
A senior party leader who was present at the dinner party dismissed whether the farewell given to the Prime Minister implied that the Congress was not coming to power for the third time. “The farewell dinner party was meant for the present dispensation. The PM had announced not to continue at the beginning of the New Year. Farewells are meant to say goodbye to the present dispensation, there is no contradiction that the next dispensation again will be UPA,” the leader told The Pioneer, requesting not to be quoted.
Meanwhile, the Congress is on a wait and watch policy until the final picture evolves on Friday afternoon. On the issue of Third Front, a senior leader said that the party has already experimented where a leader from small party becomes Prime Minister giving outside support to them. “Though the experiment was not successful, the coalition is formed to keep ideology intact and this time the war is between a secular or communal front. If there is a possibility, then it has to be a Congress-led Government,” confided a senior party leader.