The campaign for the current round of Assembly elections saw the Congress sticking to an electioneering format that was tried and tested in the Karnataka polls and which primarily comprised keeping the state leaders at the forefront of the outreach and talking about a welfarist agenda.
As the campaigning for the Assembly elections draws to a close, it is evident that the Congress, replicating the campaign strategy it adopted in Karnataka, has placed in the limelight its state leaders. If Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel was the party's poster boy in Chhattisgarh, in Madhya Pradesh, former chief minister Kamal Nath has led the electioneering from the front. In Rajasthan, the incumbent Ashok Gehlot is the face of the welfare measures that the party hopes will help it cross the finish line. In Telangana, PCC chief Revanth Reddy has been at the forefront of the campaign.
Central leaders, including party president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Rahul Gandhi and AICC General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra have campaigned extensively in these elections, but as in Karnataka, they have been in a supporting role in the electioneering.
Congress leaders believe that the strategy of focusing on the state leadership has been an effective counter to the BJP's heavy reliance on its central leadership in the elections, especially Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is felt that the Congress has not let its eye go off the ball by focusing on local issues and projecting its local leadership unlike the BJP which has depended on Modi to add heft to its campaign.
Also, in what could be a strategy that the Congress could well pursue in the Lok Sabha elections, too, the party has put forth a welfarist agenda in the state polls. It has talked about its pro-poor, welfare measures in the states under it such as Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh and come up with promises in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Telangana that stress on providing relief to the common man from economic distress.
According to Congress leaders, by doing so, the party has set the agenda for the elections, with the BJP forced to follow suit with similar promises despite having called the Congress's poll pledges 'revdis' or freebies and election-time gimmickry.
