PILOT IN CRUISE MODE
State Congress chief Sachin Pilot is looking to maintain the wave after the byelection wins
Sachin Pilot is taking no chances. Despite scoring victories in three crucial byelections in February, the Rajasthan Congress chief is aware that he needs to maintain the momentum till the state assembly polls in December. Winning the state, he knows, could potentially boost the Congress’s Lok Sabha prospects next year, not just in Rajasthan, but across several states.
Currently out on his ‘Mera booth mera gaurav’ campaign, Pilot has already visited 17 districts in a bid to energise the 50,000-odd booth managers recruited by the party. His poll strategy has evidently drawn lessons from the BJP’s 2013 assembly poll successes. “He (Pilot) first takes feedback, understands the problem before offering advice or devising plans,’’ says a veteran Congressman who was once sidelined for his outspokenness, but has now been rehabilitated by Pilot.
Pilot has already conducted an audit to identify shortcomings and improve future electoral strategy. The rebooted party organisation is striving to ensure that only genuine workers are listed; that there’s no duplication of names on voter lists; and that voters of committed Congress families aren’t split across different booths on electoral rolls.
It’s a massive and laborious exercise. Thousands of booth managers, each individually verified, are being contacted for feedback on local issues that can help build on the anti-incumbency against the Vasundhara Raje government. Once the process is complete, Pilot aims to launch a statewide mass contact programme by July end. Given that most farmers would be busy tending to their summer crop, Congress leaders plan to reach out to voters at their homes.
“We will not be going to Salman Khan or Madhuri Dixit or a chief secretary to brief him about the government’s policies,” Pilot says, taking a dig at the BJP’s outreach programme, which began by meeting an ex-chief secretary and a number of celebrities.
The Congress chief is clear that interacting with voters only through big rallies won’t be enough against the BJP line up of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and CM Raje.
Young Pilot’s approach has been drawing large crowds of youths and farmers to his meetings. “They don’t come to see me,” he says. “The youth are upset because the BJP’s promise of generating 1.5 million jobs turned out to be a damp squib, and the farmers feel abandoned.”