Submit seat-sharing formula in 10 days: Rahul to PCC chiefs

NEW DELHI: It seems the ‘josh’ within Congress is ‘high’ as the party has geared up to revive its almost ‘dead’ cadre base across the country in general and particularly in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

According to party insiders, Congress president Rahul Gandhi has asked all the chiefs of Pradesh Congress Committees (PCC) to submit a detailed report on seat sharing formula in the states, where Congress is a partner with regional parties, within 10 days.

The 10-day time frame to present the ‘actual’ position of the party in the states was given to PCC heads in the meeting of PCC chiefs and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leaders, which was held on Saturday to review preparations for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and chalk out the strategies for the polls.

As per the party insiders, the Congress president has also asked PCC chiefs to submit the report with the details of the total number of seats to be offered to the party by alliance partners and number of seats claimed by the party. Along with the seat-sharing report, PCC chiefs have also been directed to submit their electioneering plans and booth management strategies.

The Congress is a part of Grand Alliance in Bihar and going it alone in Uttar Pradesh, while it’s an ally in Kerala, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Tamil Nadu and it may forge an alliance with either Left or TMC in West Bengal.

“After tasting stunning victories in three key states of Hindi heartland, the party is aiming to activate its cadre base by contesting ‘maximum’ number of seats,” the party insiders said

During the meeting, Gandhi emphasised on taking propeople policies proposed by the Congress like the minimum guarantee programme to the people across the country.

At the meet, Rahul told PCC chiefs and CLP leaders to expose the anti-farmers, anti-youth, anti-women and anti-people policies of the Modi government and high

light all the burning issues such as unemployment, farmers’ distress, sabotage of constitutional bodies, misuse of institutions and investigative agencies in the mass campaigns and social media.

On the candidate selection, the Congress chief asked PCCS to take broader steps to make candidate finalisation more inclusive and ensure the participation of maximum party stakeholders as well as workers. At the meeting, all the PCC chiefs have been directed to complete the candidate selection process at earliest.