Looking for ways to enhance its appeal among the people, the Congress is contemplating on a significant overhaul of its electoral as well as general strategies, with the coming Karnataka state polls likely to be the grounds for the experimentation.
A noticeable infusion of fresh faces, drastic cut in renomination of sitting MLAs and a focussed campaign theme may be some of the ideas that may be implemented as part of the Congress plan for Karnataka. Such ??dos and donts?? that may be institutionalised in some form, were part of the issues that were discussed at length at a meeting of the Futures challenges group of the party on Wednesday, of which Rahul Gandhi is a member.
The suggestion of easing out old faces?something which may find strong resistence in the party?was made in the context of Gujarat, with the assertion one factor that also helped Narendra Modi win the state was his decision to drop as many as 52 out of 127 MLAs. In contrast, it was pointed out that the Congress had, barring a few instances, had virtually renominated all its MLAs in both Gujarat as well as Himachal Pradesh.
A note of caution was also sounded out on the tendency to tie up with BJP rebels, which some members pointed out had proved counterproductive in Gujarat. Another member pointed out that inputs from the local level should not be always disregarded.
The debate in the committee, of course, revolved on the larger aspect of preparing the Congress for the coming years. Rahul Gandhi, whose inclusion in the Futures group has turned it into an important party committee, reportedly held the view that the party must focus on three critical aspects–opening up the party to new stakeholders, bringing in a visible level of democratisation and injecting vibrancy from the topmost levels to the grassroots.
??He is grappling with new ideas,?? a member of the committee commented. ??And obviously, since they have to be implemented at some point, the thinking was to see if the suggestions being made can be tried out in the Karnataka assembly polls,?? he added. The senior leader contended that while making the suggestions of an overhaul, Rahul was well aware of the pitfalls such as unhappiness and resentment among the older ranks of the Congress. ??Lets say, he has demonstrated determination to see if such steps can be taken but with caution as well,?? he said.
The party is also keen that there should be a focussed campaign theme that should attract larger sections of society. A similar debate before the last general elections–over the need to refashion its slogan that it was for the poor or the ?garib?, had given rise to the Aam admi slogan, a member contended.