Cong adopting 'Chhattisgarh model' to regain power in Assam By Trideep Lahkar

Guwahati, Feb 22 (PTI) With Assam gearing up for an
intense battle of votes in the upcoming Assembly elections,
the opposition Congress has adopted the "Chhattisgarh model of
booth management" to reclaim power from the ruling BJP-led
alliance.
In 2018, Chhattisgarh Congress had defied all exit polls
and shocked political pundits winning 68 seats out of 90,
thereby snatching power from BJP after 15 years. Congress
currently has 70 MLAs there as it won two by-elections.
A senior official of the Congress party, who came from
outside Assam and has been camping here for almost one month,
told PTI that a new energy level is seen in the party workers
after a team from Chhattisgarh started working on the ground.
"Former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi's demise affected the
morale of the Assam Congress to a large extent as he was a
father-figure to all. When we came in early part of January,
people were not very enthused against BJP's aggressive
campaign," he added.
After Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel was
appointed as the observer by the All India Congress Committee
for its Assam unit for the upcoming assembly polls, things
started moving very fast in a positive direction.
"In the last 15-20 days, the entire atmosphere has changed
and it is now the rejuvenated Congress carrying out an
aggressive campaign against the BJP and its allies.
"Now, the party is very confident to give a tough fight
to the ruling NDA," said the official, who did not wish to be
identified.
Baghel was by the side of party leader Rahul Gandhi when
he kick started Assam campaign with a rally at Sivsagar on
February 14.
The Chhattisgarh CM is making frequent trips to the
poll-bound northeastern state to take stock of the party
readiness for the elections.
Explaining the strategy,the official said, the Chhattisgarh
team is focussing on micro-level booth management, which
helped them regain power from the BJP there in 2018.
"Around 15 specialised trainers have come and they have
already conducted nearly 100 training sessions since February
1, covering 100 constituencies. Within next 2-3 days, we will
cover all the 126 constituencies in Assam," the official said.
After the first level of training is over, senior party
functionaries will visit each constituencies to assess the
ground situation, followed by second and third level of
trainings by different set of trainers until the elections are
over.
"BJP has the concept of 'Prishtha Pramukh' or 'Panna
Prabhari' to manage voters in each polling booth. However, we
have seen their model failing in Chhattisgarh as it is more of
a psychological game plan. We are working on pure science and
mathematics," he said without explaining further.
The official, however, clarified that the Chhattisgarh
team under Baghel will not have any say in selection of
candidates and it will be fully decided by the Assam Congress
as local politics are understood better by the leaders from
the state.
When contacted, Baghel's Political Adviser Vinod Verma
said,"Our teams are working closely with the Assam Congress.
We want to create a system, which is election agnostic and
candidate agnostic."
Asked to elaborate what he meant by the word "agnostic to
election and candidates", the journalist-turned-political
strategist said they are working on to strengthen the party
from the ground.
"Issues and leaders are important, but only efficient and
meticulous booth management can make a party win the
elections," Verma told PTI.
Verma is coordinating all the activities of the
Chhattisgarh team with that of the party workers from Assam
and is stationed here since January 26. He will monitor the
entire election exercise till results are out.
The Congress, which was in power for 15 years in Assam
since 2001, has formed a Grand Alliance with AIUDF, CPI, CPI
(M), CPI(ML) and Anchalik Gana Morcha (AGM) to fight the
upcoming Assembly election.
The election to the 126-member Assam Assembly is likely
in March-April.
The 2016 elections gave a fractured mandate and no party
got an absolute majority in the current assembly.
The BJP is currently the single largest party with 60
MLAs, while its allies Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Bodoland
People's Front (BPF) now have 13 and 11 lawmakers
respectively. The ruling coalition also has the support of an
Independent MLA.
The opposition Congress has 19 MLAs at present, while the
All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) has 14 members in
the House in Assam. PTI TR
SNS SNS

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)