New Delhi : The Congress might give a thought to go along with the like-minded parties to confront the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the next general elections after a Chintan Shivir to be held in Rajasthan next week, sources in the party say.
Joining hands with the like-minded parties was one of the suggestions made by political strategist Prashant Kishore, sources further say. To formalise the agenda party, president Sonia Gandhi has asked the sub-committees to prepare a draft report and to submit it to her by Monday. A meeting of the Congress Wo meeting of the Congressrking Committee will clear the agenda. The party held such a Shivir in Shimla before the general elections in 2004 and it came to power. Therefore, the party will prepare political resolutions on the lines of Shimla Shivir.
According to some senior leaders of the party, whenever the Congress faces a regional party, there happens to be a problem. Party leader Rahul Gandhi said that there should not be any alliance with TRS and that the party leaders must keep away from talking about it. Although the party is in alliance with the JMM in Jharkhand, NCP-Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and the DMK in Tamil Nadu, it has to choose between the Telugu Desham Party or go it alone in Andhra Pradesh.
The Congress cannot have an alliance with YSRCP there. In the north-east, the situation is different. Either the BJP or the regional parties have replaced the Congress in the north-eastern states. In West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, opposed to having any ties with the Congress, is trying to build an alliance with other political parties to take on the BJP in the next general election.
At the Chintan Shivir, the party is likely to discuss the states like UP, Bihar, Odisha and West Bengal where it is in straight fight with the regional parties. Ergo, the Congress may focus on 180 seats where the regional parties have minimal presence. The party will also discuss the upcoming assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh where Aam Aadmi Party is strengthening is position.
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The states like Karnataka, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh where elections will be held in 2023 may figure in the discussions at Chintan Shivir. The party of course will spare no effort to win these states to throw a challenge before the BJP in 2024.
