Regional alliances, both pre-poll and post-poll ones, for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections were the central focus of the discussions of the first meeting of the Congress’s party Central Working Committee after Rahul Gandhi took over as party president.
During the meeting, most of the 240 members of the extended CWC present voted to allow Gandhi to forge these alliances in the run-up to the elections. Those present on Sunday’s CWC meeting also voted to announce Rahul Gandhi as the prime contender to the role of the leader of the Grand Alliance.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Gandhi said that a committee will be formed in the next few days to strategise on these alliances. “We are setting up a group to do it,” said Gandhi.
Former Home Minister P Chidambaram, who spoke on the party’s fighting chances in the upcoming general elections, said that there are “more than a dozen” states where the party is up for a one-on-one fight with another party. In most of these states, the party will have to face the BJP and in some regional parties. While Chidambaram did not mention it, states where the Congress has a fighting chance include Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra.
The senior leader said that if the party prepares well in advance it could translate to 150 seats in these states, said a party source. Alliances with “like-minded parties” could then provide the push the party will need. He added that the party could depend on 120 seats from regional alliances, said party sources.
Chidambaram, party sources added, said that most of the electorate is looking up to the Congress as an alternative in 2019, and the party must work towards that goal. His speech in the CWC on Sunday echoed some of the same points he had spoken about during the launch of his book, Speaking Truth to Power early this year. During the launch, he had said that the party will have to arrive at ‘some kind of a broad understanding’ and ‘some kind of a pre-election understanding’ in these states.
The NCP, DMK, RJD and Left parties have somewhat expressed a willingness to be party of the UPA, but getting leaders like Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee will be easier said than done.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Rahul Gandhi speaking during the CWC")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}