Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is nearing the conclusion of ‘Bharat Jodo’ Yatra. The yatra, which started from Kanyakumari, is in its final leg in Jammu and Kashmir. Now it is being said that the result of Rahul Gandhi’s journey of more than 3500 km will be found in 2024. However, the journey till the Lok Sabha elections can also be difficult for the Congress, because before that 9 states will go through assembly elections. Along with this, the party will try to be strong at the organizational level as well.
Changes will have to be made in the organization
Experts believe that before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, some rapid changes will have to be made at the All India Congress Committee level of the Congress. It is being said that the officials and Congress leaders of the states through which the yatra passed are very happy and many leaders believe that changes should happen as soon as possible.
Experts suggest that AICC should take the help of human resources and cadre based approach. In which new people should be included in the party cadre and those who are not working should be shown the way out. He told that those working hard in the party and strongly believing in the ideology are entitled to big responsibilities. Also, change should be initiated from the top order.
Keeping an eye on new players
Congress will also have to keep an eye on emerging new players like Aam Aadmi Party, Bharat Rashtra Samithi in the political picture. Gujarat elections can be an example of this. Where on one hand the Congress had to lose its old seats. At the same time, AAP entered Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bastion and paved the way for becoming a national party.
Here, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who converted Telangana Rashtra Samithi into Bharat Rashtra Samithi, is also looking towards Delhi. Apart from this, he is also trying to unite the opposition parties. Recently he had invited several parties like Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan in a rally in Khammam. The special thing is that Congress and BRS have been targeting each other. Apart from this, the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, CM Nitish Kumar of Bihar is also seen breathing for opposition unity.
Not only winning the election, we will also have to save the stronghold and increase the seats.
The electoral record of the Congress has not been great since its humiliating defeat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Although the party tasted victory in Himachal Pradesh on its own in December last year, it also suffered a crushing defeat in Gujarat during the same period. In such a situation, 2023 will be very important for the party.
Elections are due in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana, Karnataka, Meghalaya, Tripura and Nagaland this year. Possibilities are being expressed that by November, voting may also be held in Mizoram. Now the demonstrations in all these states can testify to the impact of the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Barring the Northeast, Rahul Gandhi had reached all these states along with other marchers.
where are you
Congress will have to face the challenge of retaining power in Rajasthan-Chhattisgarh. At the same time, in MP too, the party will be trying to regain the throne after losing the government in a setback. In Telangana, the party is already facing a challenge from the BRS. In such a situation, the defeat of Munugode by-election has increased the worries of the Congress. The Congress has high hopes in Karnataka, the home state of party president Mallikarjun Kharge.
Northeast challenge
Northeast India was considered a Congress bastion, but after the 2014 general elections, the political picture changed and the party is battling for seats. Statistics show that in 2013, the Congress had 47 of the total 180 assembly seats in Meghalaya, Tripura and Nagaland. In 2018, this figure came down to 21. Now the situation is such that except Meghalaya, the party does not have a single MLA in the other two states.
it is necessary to end the discord
Congress will also have to resolve the ongoing differences between the leaders before the election atmosphere is created in 2023. Among these, the tussle between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot in Rajasthan will have to be stopped. Apart from this, there were reports of tension between former CM Siddaramaiah and state chief DK Shivakumar in Karnataka regarding the Chief Ministerial face. In Chhattisgarh too, there has been speculation of differences between CM Bhupesh Baghel and Health Minister TS Singh Deo.
Semi-finals have to be understood in 2023
According to former Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha, the real work of preparing itself to take on the BJP has begun for the Congress and now the wind is blowing in its favor. He told ‘PTI-Bhasha’, ‘Enthusiasm has come among the workers. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge is giving aggressive speeches which seem to be hurting the BJP. He also said that 2023 is a semi-final for the Congress and a ‘do or die’ situation.
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