Bihar state Congress advises central command against going solo in upcoming assembly elections

NEW DELHI: No matter what happens, Congress should not fight elections on its own in Bihar. The arrogance of power was the real reason for the party's defeat in 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The party will do well to take up people's issues and hold protests in every city in the state. In fact, senior leaders must mandatorily spend a week each in villages. This is the sort of feedback that the beleaguered Congress leadership in Delhi is getting from the party's cadres at grass-roots level.

Congress general secretaries had earlier this month initiated an exercise to collect responses from across the country after party vice president Rahul Gandhi asked them to find out how to rejuvenate the party following a string of electoral losses. The party had directed senior leaders to interact with the cadres at block and district levels and ask questions on four broad topics, ideology, organisational structure, communication and political strategy.

The feedback ranges from political strategy in election-bound states of Bihar and West Bengal to more basic home truths on how Gandhi needs to interact more with the party members and common voters. The feedback sessions involve asking block and district level presidents what they think about the ideology of the party, communication strategy and the future course of action.