On July 18, when the Congress government in Karnataka hosted 26 Opposition parties in Bengaluru to firm up the Inclusive National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), the party had also scheduled a meeting of its Karnataka unit for a review of its electoral strategy.
That meeting, as well as another one for its Kerala unit a day later, was cancelled because of the passing away of former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. However, the scheduling of an election review meeting, immediately after a mega Opposition meet and just before the start of the Monsoon session of Parliament, conveyed a sense of urgency in the Congress to improve its fortunes in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Though the party will fight the next polls as part of the INDIA bloc, it is expected to do some heavy lifting in States where it is expected to have a one-on-one fight with the BJP. And there is a good reason why the Congress should review its Lok Sabha strategy.
In May 2019, the Congress and the BJP had a direct fight for 190 Lok Sabha seats and the BJP won 175. Even in States like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, where Congress had won the Assembly polls in December 2018, the BJP swept the Lok Sabha polls.
Of the 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress managed to win one; in Chhattisgarh, it won 2 of the 11 parliamentary seats; of the 25 seats in Rajasthan, it failed to win even one. In Karnataka too, where the Congress was in power with Janata Dal (Secular) during the 2019 polls, the BJP swept the national elections, winning 25 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats.
Voters had made a clear distinction between Assembly elections and the national one and the perception of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership could have been a distinguishing factor.
So, in the next Lok Sabha polls, the principal Opposition parties are likely to adopt a new template of focussing on key national issues along with State-specific ones to take on the BJP. In addition, the party will be highlighting the “guarantees” that its governments in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh are offering. Minimum income guarantee, health insurance, LPG cylinders at ₹500, old pension scheme are some of the election promises that are being implemented in party-ruled States.
In the past few weeks, the top leadership comprising party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, general secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal and former chief Rahul Gandhi are reviewing Lok Sabha poll preparedness of individual State units and identifying State-specific issues where Central policies may have had an adverse impact on the ground.
So far, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and the North-Eastern States have been covered. In Uttarakhand, a State that sends a large number of youth to the armed forces, the party has identified Agnipath Scheme as a policy that is being resented by the youth along with unemployment and women security. Similarly, in Maharashtra,the party will highlight issues like inflation, unemployment and farmers’ issues.
In the wake of Bharat Jodo Yatra’s popularity, padayatra has been chosen to mobilise public support.
“Unemployment, economic downturn and the politics of hate. These were the key issues that Rahul ji raised in the Bharat Jodo Yatra and they are biggest malady of India. Mr Modi is only the symbol of that malady,” Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala told The Hindu.
