New Delhi: Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, along with several party leaders, is likely to travel to Udaipur to attend the Chintan Shivir from May 13-15 via train to project the image of a common man.
Sources said the party has booked two bogies which will take the Congress leaders to Udaipur on May 12, a day before the Shivir officially opens. Actually, all the 422 delegates that have been invited to the session have been asked to report on May 12, so that a smooth conduct of the Shivir can be executed. The state government has made elaborate arrangements for the stay and commute of the leaders as well as for the media persons who will cover the event.
According to sources, traveling by train by the top leadership will send a message among the voters not only in the state but across the country as the Shivir is expected to prepare a strategy for reviving the grand old party and giving it a new direction ahead of the 2024 national elections. The Congress has lost the 2014 and 2019 national elections to the BJP and has in between lost several assembly polls also, which has demoralized the workers across the country.
“The Shivir is a platform for the upcoming leaders to present their views on how the party should move forward,” said an AICC functionary involved in the preparations. Party insiders said the idea to travel by train was devised by Rahul, who wants himself and the Congress to be identified with the common people at a time when the opposition party is presenting itself as pro-people and the central government pro-corporates.
“If you notice, Rahulji has consistently highlighted that the central government works only for the benefit of a few big corporates while the middle-class and lower middle-class persons continue to suffer due to faulty policies,” said an AICC general secretary. “The leader must also act in a manner that matches his words,” he said.
Sources said besides issues related to price rise, unemployment, communal tensions, certain organizational reforms like one family one ticket and reviving the parliamentary board are likely to be debated at the Chintan Shivir. Party insiders acknowledged that the party’s reach out to the voters must be more effective and said that the Udaipur conclave will allow the grand old party to send out a strong message in one voice that it is prepared to provide an alternative leadership at the central level in 2024.
“Mere projection is not enough, we have to devise and roll out an action plan for the next two years as well,” said a party strategist.
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