In the aftermath of its Gujarat debacle, the Rahul Gandhi-led Congress election committee is re-strategising its plan for BJP-ruled states — Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh — that will hold polls this year.
Sensing that the lack of a prominent local leader who could match Narendra Modi was a key reason for its Gujarat defeat, Mr Gandhi and his team are now seeking strong leaders in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh who could take on chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Raman Singh effectively. Congress sources said that Mr Gandhi, soon after taking over as party vice-president, had indicated his first priority would be to gear up the party to take up the challenge of dislodging BJP governments in the two states.
“As he (Mr Gandhi) held several meetings with his colleagues in the Congress poll panel, one thing emerged — that unless the party throws up a formidable face (as a CM candidate) in each state, it will be difficult to sustain an aggressive campaign by giving people an alternative,” a source said.
Panel insiders noted in Gujarat the party heavily banked on the “charisma of Sonia Gandhi and Rahulji himself”, but didn’t have a “credible local face”. This, strategists felt, gave Mr Modi a chance to “unnecessarily attack our top leadership and (also) use the Assembly campaign to create hype around him”.
Mr Gandhi does not favour projecting any known faces in the two states, and is learnt to have asked his team to consider new and emerging leaders, but no names have emerged so far.