GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 5th Jan. The top brass of the Congress party expressed their dissatisfaction with the slow pace of the party’s crowdfunding campaign. They urged party leaders to accelerate their efforts and secure generous contributions ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, sources said.
During a three-hour meeting, general secretaries, in-charges, state unit chiefs, and CLP leaders from all states were instructed to focus on the approximately 255 winnable seats. The party is expected to announce its first list of candidates for the elections very soon and has urged states to initiate the process immediately. Screening committees for each state will also be formed this week.
Party leaders, including Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, expressed their disappointment with the generation of only Rs 11 crore in two weeks. They called for intensified efforts to collect more funds from party leaders, workers, and the public. AICC treasurer Ajay Maken was specifically instructed to speed up efforts and visit states to boost the campaign and hold discussions with state units to generate more funds.
The party leadership also decided to separately generate funds for the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, which will commence on January 14. The crowdfunding campaign “Donate for Desh” was launched in December to raise funds for the Lok Sabha elections.
Kharge emphasized the need to consolidate the gains made through the Bharat Jodo Yatra and proposed renaming it as Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. Rahul Gandhi sought the opinion of party leaders on whether they wanted “Bharat Jodo” to be part of this yatra, which was previously named “Bharat Nyay Yatra”.
Kharge advised leaders not to discuss sensitive issues or internal matters in public through the media, while Rahul Gandhi urged them to refrain from making unnecessary comments that could lead to stern action by the party.
The Congress is currently finalizing coordinators for all Lok Sabha constituencies and has requested state units to provide names of potential candidates. Leaders were also instructed to focus on booth management at the micro level to ensure the victory of party candidates.
Rahul Gandhi urged party leaders to build the narrative that the INDIA bloc can win the Lok Sabha election, in order to garner public support for the opposition alliance. The Congress is contesting this election as the INDIA bloc and will begin seat-sharing talks with other like-minded parties in the coming week, following discussions with state leaders by the seat sharing committee.
