Cong meets decides strategy for parliamentary elections

Vijay Deo Jha Ranchi Sunday, October 26, 2008

With the meeting of the extended working committee of the State Congress on Saturday in the State capital the State Congress seems to have swung into action for the forthcoming Parliamentary elections in the State, scheduled to be held in the next year.

The party has decided to showcase the achievements of the Central UPA Government. Chalking out different programmes of the party in view of the elections it was decided to celebrate the 123 years of the formation of the Congress in the State capital on November 28.

Terming the constitution of the booth committee crucial to ensure the success of the party in the elections, in the meeting it was decided to constitute the booth committees before November 15. It also decided to convene the regular meeting of the booth committees. Alok Dubey, the Spokesperson, State Congress said that the party would invite the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi and party’s general secretary Rahul Gandhi and other prominent leaders to bless the occasion.

The long marathon meeting of the party also dwelt upon the strategy for the next elections. It also asked the JMM chief and Chief Minister Shibu Soren to decide the common strategy for the next LS elections. Most of the party functionaries wanted the party to field its candidates in all 14 parliamentary seats. But, what worried the party most was that it could not showcase its achievements. It claimed that the party was instrumental behind several welfare measures for the minorities that were started by the previous Madhu Koda Government. But “the party failed to showcase them before the public”, the leaders added.

The party felt serious lack of coordination among the leaders as a large number of party officials blamed the MPs for sidelining them and criticised them for running parallel organisation that to them made a dent on the morale of the party workers. It should be noted that except party MP from Ranchi, Subodhkant Sahai, rest of the party MPs remained absent from the meeting.

Even not condoning party’s State president Pradeep Balmucchu for his alleged unsatisfactory tenure and the style of functioning, some of the senior party leaders including Chhatrapati Sahu Munda, member working committee, said that on the basis of the decisions taken therein the party could barely manage the election unless the party takes into confidence all the sections of the party.

Realising the party is virtually on the margin in Jharkhand the meeting stressed on the need of membership drive to be started the next month. In this context the party MLA Niel Tirkey said that workers would have to raise the issue of the common mass to instil confidence among them towards the party.