Taking a cue from its Himachal victory, the Congress’ election coordination committee led by AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi is focusing on Opposition-ruled states ahead of the 2014 general election. It is planning micro-management for 2014 in five states — Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Jharkhand (all BJP-ruled) and Orissa (BJD) — which together send 100 MPs to the Lok Sabha. The committee is also trying to finalise candidates’ names well in advance, a clear departure from usual Congress practice.
Sources close to the panel say Mr Gandhi held several meetings to work out modalities.
“It was decided to identify group of states in different categories — Congress-ruled, UPA-ruled, BJP-ruled, NDA-ruled,” a source said. “It was found BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand and BJD-ruled Orissa posed the biggest challenge... It was decided to fix all poll-related issues (there) as a priority.”
It was also decided to screen probable candidates well in advance as the Congress has already decided it will fight alone there, sources said. If candidates are decided a year ahead, it will give them ample time to nurse their constituencies. The panel has decided that while the Congress will fight on its own in Uttar Pradesh, it will be in alliance with Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD and Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP in Bihar.