Chorus for Rahul yatra, flak for Kamal Nath: At CWC meeting, all that Congress top brass discussed

Nath, and to a lesser extent Digvijaya Singh, came in for criticism. There was veiled criticism of former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel as well. Leader after leader spoke about how Nath functioned unilaterally and in a stubborn manner. The general refrain of the leaders was that Nath and Baghel to some extent refused to listen to others, in the former’s case even the central leadership.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge pointed out that Nath used to get up and leave meetings whenever he disagreed with something that was said. Mukul Wasnik said one of the slogans in Madhya Pradesh was “Jai jai Kamal Nath” as if the elections were contested in his name and not that of the Congress.

While the general assessment was that while the Congress’s vote share was more or less intact in all three states, the BJP managed to garner a large chunk of the votes that traditionally used to go to smaller parties such as Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and some tribal parties. The state leadership, the leaders said, should now have a proper strategy for the future. On his part, Digvijaya Singh tried to shift part of the blame to the central leadership, saying that the All India Congress Committee (AICC) lacked consistency as it kept changing general secretaries.

Sources said Randeep Surjewala, who was the AICC leader in charge of Madhya Pradesh, pointed out that the BJP has a superior organisational machinery spread down to the booth level. Speaking later, Rahul, without mentioning Surjewala, said the Congress had defeated the BJP in the same states and argued that the BJP could be defeated

Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor said the party should start the process of identifying candidates for the parliamentary elections without any delay. He reasoned that the party should identify the seats it was set to contest, identify the candidates who are certain to be fielded, and sound them out so that they can hit the ground and start working.

Fellow MP Manish Tewari echoed Tharoor’s views and said the party should have clarity on the message that it wants to convey and the narrative it wants to craft for the general election campaign. Party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the party should now focus on the Lok Sabha battle instead of focusing on the past.

Many leaders said the party should conclude seat-sharing talks with its INDIA partners at the earliest and hit the ground. Showing a sense of urgency, Kharge told the meeting that the manifesto committee would be set up by Friday.

Bharat Jodo Yatra 2.0

At the outset, Mallikarjun Kharge proposed that Rahul should embark on Bharat Jodo Yatra 2.0 from the east to the west. Not to be left behind, leader after leader then made the same plea. But three leaders — Wasnik, Kerala MLA Ramesh Chennithala, and Tripura legislator Sudeep Roy Barman — disagreed saying there was not enough time left for the yatra. Preparations are already on for Rahul to go on the yatra. But owing to the paucity of time, the yatra, which may start from Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram or a place in eastern Assam, will be a hybrid one where all modes of transport will be used.

Addressing a press conference after the four-hour meeting chaired by Kharge and attended by Sonia Gandhi, AICC general secretary in charge of organisation K C Venugopal said the party would switch to election mode without any delay and candidates for the Lok Sabha polls would be decided soon with the constitution of the screening committee this month. In his opening address, Kharge said the party had learnt valuable lessons from the recent Assembly polls and was committed to not repeating the same mistakes.

Meanwhile, the CWC was informed about the invitations received by Kharge and Sonia Gandhi from the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust for the consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on January 22. Asked whether they would attend, K C Venugopal said, “You know about that … what the party’s stand is. On January 22, you will know who is participating … they invited us. We are very much thankful to them for inviting us.”