Sonia forms 3 groups to plan for 2024 polls
Several leaders of G-23 included
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday formed three groups ahead of the 2024 general election. The party also included several members of the G-23 group. The party has also set up a central planning group for its Bharat Jodo Yatra scheduled to begin from October this year.
The political affairs group members include Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Ambika Soni, Digvijaya Singh, K.C. Venugopal, Jitendra Singh and G-23 leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma. The task force also has eight members — P. Chidambaram, Mukul Wasnik, Jairam Ramesh, K.C. Venugopal, Ajay Maken, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Randeep Singh Surjewala and Sunil Kanugolu. Each member of the task force will be assigned a specific task related to organisation, communication, media, outreach, finance and election management. The central planning group for coordination of the Bharat Jodo Yatra has nine members, including Digvijaya Singh, Sachin Pilot, Shashi Tharoor, Ravneet Singh Bittu, K.J. George, Jothi-Mani, Pradyut Bordoloi, Jitu Patwari and Saleem Ahmed.
The party had decided to form the two panels at the “Chintan Shivir”, or strategy meet, in Udaipur recently to discuss its way forward after its multiple election defeats. Interestingly, election strategist Prashant Kishor’s former associate Sunil Kanugolu has been picked for the party’s election management.
The task force held its first meeting in the evening of the announcement. It was attended by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, P. Chidambaram, Ajay Maken and Jairam
Ramesh, among others. It was a preliminary meeting to set the ball rolling for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and also to distribute responsibilities amongst the various members of the task force.
After this move, the party is seen to be fulfilling its commitments made at the brain-storming session. In the coming days, the party is expected to take more such decisions to bolster the Congress. In the next couple of months, the party’s organisational elections are also likely to take place.