NEW DELHI, July 6 (PTI): The Congress on Thursday said it can win the Rajasthan assembly elections provided there is complete unity and asked all its leaders to maintain discipline and not speak outside the party forum.
The party also said that it will decide its candidates for the polls by the first week of September and winnability will be the only criterion for their selection. Congress leaders will hit the ground from Friday through a house-to-house campaign to take schemes of the state government to the people.
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All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary K C Venugopal told reporters after the party’s strategy meeting on election preparedness in Rajasthan that all leaders agreed that the Congress could win the assembly polls slated later this year provided there is complete unity.
It, however, refrained from commenting on any peace formula between chief minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot.
“We never announce the chief ministerial candidate, but we will fight the election together and unitedly,” Venugopal said when asked under whose leadership the party will contest the upcoming polls.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Rahul Gandhi, AICC in-charge of Rajasthan Sukhjinder Randhawa, Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee president Govind Singh Dotasra, Pilot and other senior leaders from Rajasthan met at the party headquarters here at 11 am.
Chief minister Gehlot, who is recovering from fractures in both his toes, attended the meeting via video conferencing.
Venugopal said the meeting was a preparatory one about Rajasthan during which the Congress leadership took some important decisions about election management in the state.
He announced that all ministers, MLAs and leaders will go house to house to take the various schemes of the state government to the people, and the party’s campaign would start from Friday.
“Our ministers, MLAs, leaders and ground workers will engage with all communities and social groups during the next 90 days,” Venugopal said after the meeting that last about four hours.
The Congress leader said discussions will be held on the party manifesto as well as the achievements of the Congress government in Rajasthan.
“The party has decided to have a completely positive campaign starting tomorrow. We have decided to engage with all groups about the election manifesto in the coming 90 days. The party-government coordination will be strengthened,” Venugopal said, adding that 29 leaders from Rajasthan participated in the meeting, including the chief minister.
He said everybody unanimously decided that “we have to win Rajasthan and we can win, provided there is unanimous unity in the Rajasthan Congress”. Earlier there were differences, but the speciality of today’s meeting is that all leaders said they will fight the elections with unity, Venugopal said.
“The party leaders should ensure strict discipline inside the party. No one should speak outside the party forum. If anybody speaks outside, there will be strict disciplinary action,” he warned.
Asked if Congress MLAs were facing anti-incumbency in Rajasthan, Venugopal said, “Every party faces anti-incumbency, our party may also be facing some anti-incumbency. Our candidate selection will only be on winnability.”
Noting that the Congress government is working well in Rajasthan, he said its schemes are very good and work should be done to take them to the grassroots. That is why the preparatory meeting was organised today, Venugopal said.
The Congress leader said the Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi created a positive atmosphere in the state and this will yield good results in Rajasthan, as it has shown in Karnataka.
“We are very sure that the Congress will win Rajasthan. The selection of candidates will be on winnability basis. We are holding several surveys to ascertain that. We will decide the party candidates in the first week of September,” Venugopal said and termed the meeting as “very successful and fruitful”.
“We are doing advance homework for election preparation,” he said, asserting that the party’s top leadership has held several rounds of meetings with leaders of all five states — Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Mizoram — going to the polls later this year. “The election campaign will start soon. We are in full form to defeat the BJP,” he said.
Venugopal also announced that the Rajasthan government will soon bring a new legislation on reforms in the Rajasthan Public Service Commission. He said the government is keen to tackle the issue of question paper leaks and on it, a new legislation will also come.
Sachin Pilot also spoke very well and told the meeting that he is confident that “we will win the state and the party will repeat its government there”, he said.
Pilot later said Congress lawmakers and functionaries in Rajasthan will work together to ensure its victory in the upcoming assembly polls. He also said at the meeting, the party discussed ways on how to buck the trend of the state voting out incumbent governments.
The former Rajasthan deputy chief minister said that he raised the issues of corruption of the previous BJP government in the state, paper leaks and Rajasthan Public Service Commission reform.
He expressed satisfaction that the party leadership has taken cognisance of the issues raised by him as well as those relating to the youth, and has given appropriate directions.
The Congress leader said the party will make corruption an election issue in Rajasthan. The Congress government in Rajasthan is serious about acting against corruption that happened during the previous BJP rule, he told reporters after the meeting.
“There was a meaningful discussion on how to buck trend of voting out incumbent government in Rajasthan. We discussed all issues with an open mind and all expressed confidence that we can repeat the government in Rajasthan,” Pilot said.
“The Congress organisation, MLAs, ministers will work together. We want to repeat our government in Rajasthan,” he said, adding that the Congress had won in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in 2018 and this will be repeated this time again with a massive mandate.
