Amid infighting in States such as Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan where the Congress is in power, and with the crucial Assembly elections to Gujarat and Karnataka, the Congress has decided to hold a three-day brainstorming session in Udaipur from May 13.

About 400 Congress leaders will join the “Nav Sankalp Chintan Shivir” to deliberate on political, economic and social issues before the party.

AICC general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala said the focus of the deliberations will be on the current political, social and economic situation as also the challenges they pose to the society and the nation. “Issues relating to the welfare and well-being and the disregard for the rights of the Schedule Castes, Schedule Tribes, Backward Classes, Minorities, Kisans (farmers) and Khet Mazdoors (agriculture workers), religious and linguistic minorities, women, social justice and empowerment, empowerment of the young will all be deliberated by the Nav Sankalp Shivir, including organisational restructuring and strengthening,” he said. The session will also discuss a broad strategy of the Congress for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Six panels have been formed to submit topics for discussion before the session. The coordination panel on political issues will be headed by Opposition leader in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge; former External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid will chair a panel on Social Justice and Empowerment; former Finance Minister P Chidambaram will be the convenor on the panel on economy; Mukul Wasnik will head the panel on organisation; former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda will head the group on farmers and agriculture. and Punjab PCC president Amrinder Singh Warring is the head of the panel on Youth and Empowerment.

The Chintan Shivir is likely to take a decision on the question of leadership change in Rajasthan and Chhatisgarh. In Rajasthan, a group headed by Sachin Pilot has been pointing fingers at Ashok Gehlot’s leadership. They have been citing issues such as law and order problems and lack of control over bureaucracy to change the leader. Similar problems are there in Chhattisgarh too, where the party is divided into two camps—one headed by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and the other led by Finance Minister TS Singhdeo.

Prashant Kishor factor

Meanwhile, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has formed an Empowered Action Group to address the political challenges ahead of the 2024 elections. This is in response to the report of an eight-member group that discussed the possibility of providing Congress membership to poll strategist Prashant Kishor. Sources in the Congress indicate that the party is unlikely to take Kishor as a member, but will seek professional advice from him in the upcoming elections. A number of senior leaders seem to have raised apprehensions about giving membership to Kishor. 

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