Poll drubbing aftermath: Congress to strengthen, reform, rejuvenate party at grassroots level

New Delhi: After suffering poll debacles, Congress has decided to focus on strengthening, reforming, and rejuvenating the party in the current year.

“By the end of this year, you will see a reformed and rejuvenated Congress,” party general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh told reporters after a meeting of party general secretaries and state in-charges in Delhi.

Seven-hour meeting

Jairam Ramesh said, “It was a seven-hour-long marathon meeting, which was presided over by the Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and attended, among others, by the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi. 30 party general secretaries/ in-charges attended the meeting.”

It was their first formal meeting in the newly inaugurated party headquarters, Indira Bhawan. All of them will start working and operating from the new office premises henceforth.

Strengthen the party at the district level

Congress general secretary said the meeting emphasized strengthening the party at the district level. He said there was a detailed discussion about strengthening around 800 District Congress Committees across the country.

He disclosed that the meeting also discussed in detail the systematic weakening of the Election Commission of India by the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister. He said the meeting also discussed the issue of manipulation in electoral rolls where a large number of bogus votes were added and genuine votes deleted, as happened in Haryana, Maharashtra, and Delhi.

Election Commission and voter list

The Congress general secretary said the meeting observed that it was the duty of the Election Commission of India to provide voter lists to the political parties in a format in which these can be analyzed in detail. He said that the Election Commission was functioning on the directions of the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister.

He said as a follow-up to the Belagavi Resolution passed on December 26, Samvidaan Bachao Rashtriya Yatra’ (Save the Constitution National March) will be carried out across the country. He said it will be different from the Bharat Jodo Yatra and will be like a “relay yatra” in which national leaders will participate at the state, district, and block levels.

AICC session in Gujarat

He also announced that the next session of the AICC will be held in Gujarat in the first fortnight of April this year.