Preparing an action plan to strengthen and revive the Congress with an eye on the electoral fights scheduled to take place in the coming two years, including the Lok Sabha polls in 2024, will be at the heart of the party's brainstorming endeavour at its 'Navsankalp Chintan Shivir' to be held in Udaipur from May 13 to 15.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi will kickstart the Chintan Shivir on May 13, which will be followed by discussions under six broad heads – political, economic, social justice, farmers, youth and organisational issues. In the afternoon of May 15, the congregation will adopt the Udaipur Nav Sankalp.
Setting the agenda for the Udaipur deliberations, Sonia convened a meeting of the Congress Working Committee this evening at the party headquarters to go over the preparations for the event and the framework of the discussions to take place there.
In her opening remarks at the CWC meeting, Sonia said the Chintan Shivir should not become a ritual and asserted that she was “determined that it should herald a restructured organisation to meet the many ideological, electoral and managerial tasks we confront.”
“I request your full cooperation in ensuring that the single over-riding message that goes forth loud and clear from Udaipur is one of unity, cohesion, determination and commitment to our party’s accelerated revival,” she said.
Sonia said there were no magic wands and it was only be through selfless work, discipline and a sense of consistent collective purpose that the party would demonstrate its tenacity and resilience. “The party has been central to the life of each and every one of us. It has expected our total allegiance and has been good to each and every one of us. Now, when we are at a crucial juncture, it is imperative that we step forward and repay our debt to the party in full measure,” she said.
In the backdrop of voices of discontentment getting louder with every electoral debacle, most strongly expressed by the so-called G23 group of leaders, she said while self-criticism is needed in the party's forums, it should not be done in a manner that erodes self-confidence and morale and an atmosphere of gloom and doom prevails.
“To the contrary, we are beholden to put our heads together and together, collectively overcome the challenges that face us,” she said.
The Congress president had set up six coordination panels to set out the broad agenda for discussion at Udaipur, and the leaders heading these groups presented in bullet points at the CWC meeting the issues discussed so far.
A total of 422 delegates will attend the Chintan Shivir. They will be split into groups to brainstorm on the six themes shortlisted. They include CWC members, including the panel's permanent and special invitees, PCC chiefs, CLP leaders, leaders of the party in legislative councils, former union ministers, former union ministers with independent charge, AICC general secretaries and secretaries, heads of departments, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs, and national office-bearers of Mahila Congress, Youth Congress and the NSUI.
This is the fourth in the series of Chintan Shivirs that the party has held in recent decades. The first was in Panchmarhi in 1998. The second such meeting was held in Shimla in 2003. The AICC's meeting in Jaipur in January 2013 has also been described as a brainstorming session.
Around 50 per cent of the delegates are less than 50 years of age, and of these 30-35 per cent are less than 40 years of age. Around 21 per cent of the delegates are women.
“It is a mix of youth and experience and care has been taken to make the gathering representative of different parts of the country and different sections of the society,” said AICC Communications Department head Randeep Surjewala.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, “We will plan for the Congress party as an organisation, not a party in power but one aspiring to be in power in 2024 and winning the assembly elections this year and next year.”
The CWC also approved Constitutional changes to allow for digital membership of the party that is already under way. It also decided that a separate territorial wing will be created for Ladakh.
