Rahul meets Congress spokespersons

NEW DELHI: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday met party spokespersons who contribute articles to newspapers and online publications and sought their views on constructing a social and economic narrative to counter the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, said three participants.

Apart from discussing the challenges before the Congress in the run-up to 2019 elections, the meeting also discussed the strategy of enhancing the party’s presence on social media and other platforms, the three participants said on condition of anonymity.

Senior leaders PC hi dam bar am, SJ aip al Reddy, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Anand Sharma, Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari and Jairam Ramesh were among the spokes-person-scum-columnists who attended the meeting at the Congress party’s “war room” in the national capital.

Pawan Khera, Priyanka Chaturvedi and Jaiveer Shergill were among the media panellists who took part.

While concerns were raised on how to counter the BJP attempts at perceived polarisation, Gandhi, on his part, reiterated that Congress leaders were free to express their views, but should desist from making any “provocative” statements, said the first participant.

Tharoor explained the“Hindu Pakistan” remarks he made when Rajeev Shukla mentioned that some Congress leaders make “inflammatory” comments and “hurt” the party’s image. Tharoor had said that India would turn into a “HIndu Pakistan” if the BJP is re-elected to national power next year.

At this point, the second participant cited above said, Gandhi intervened and insisted that those who cross the Congress’ line will not be defended by the party.

Some participants stressed the need to counter the kind of negative campaign on which the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi won the 2014 Lok Sabha elections with a similar narrative, but others said the Congress should continue to focus on “positive canvassing”.