Ahead of 2018 polls, Congress to target 145 reserved seats

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the crucial assembly elections in six states over the next 18 months, Congress plans to target 145 reserved constituencies.

The party would identify 1,000 committed leaders of all castes from the grassroots, build an organisation with booth-level voter mapping and focus on opinion makers to improve confidence in Congress in the reserved segments.

India’s Grand Old Party has started the spadework in 145 reserved constituencies of which it holds only 36 right now. To begin with, it has recast vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s Leadership Development Mission to choose Dalit leaders from the grassroots.

The party has expanded the scope and decided that it needs the support of all castes to make any dent in the SC-dominated assembly segments.

“We have learnt from the recent elections that in reserved constituencies the party can become strong and perform well only if leaders from all castes throw their weight behind the official candidate. So we have decided to expand the scope of the programme and choose leaders from all castes and not just Dalit leaders,” Congress’ scheduled caste department in charge K Raju told ET. The leaders chosen through the party’s long drawn out exercise under Leadership Mission would be given responsibilities.

“It is very clear that non-Dalits would not be considered for tickets. But there are other responsibilities that can be given to them within the constituency or at the state unit level. It depends on how well the individual performs,” said Raju.

While Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh have elections this year, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh would go to polls in 2018.