Congress in poll mode

Rahul Gandhi will head the key Congress panel to oversee preparations for the 2014 elections, an announcement seen as the first step towards declaring him the party’s poll mascot.
Although an announcement of Rahul’s elevation to the formal No. 2 position is likely to come later, his position as the head of the election coordination committee is seen as a precursor to his eventual projection as the party’s choice for prime minister and the beginning of poll preparations.
Rahul’s much-awaited elevation will see him effectively take charge of the organization, with Sonia Gandhi reclining into the role of the party matriarch.
The six-member poll panel includes political secretary to the Congress supremo Ahmed Patel, AICC general secretaries Janardan Dwivedi and Digvijaya Singh, rural development minister Jairam Ramesh and Madhusudan Mistry, a key AICC leader.
The early attempt to tighten the organizational nuts and bolts for the 2014 challenge reflects the recognition that the party stands weakened after the floundering experience of UPA-II, and its heightened stake in 2014 because of Rahul being showcased as the PM contender.
That the Congress will be in poll mode from now was further stressed by the announcement of three sub-committees to stitch poll alliances and hammer out strategy.
One of the groups is called “manifesto and government programmes” and is seen as the platform to heed the concern that the UPA should be made to hew to the party’s poll promises.
The manifesto panel will have key ministers, with senior most A K Antony on the top, P Chidambaram, Sushilkumar Shinde, Salman Khurshid, Sandeep Dikshit and Ajit Jogi. The membership of the chairman of National Commission for SCs P L Punia and former minority affairs minister Khurshid is seen to address critical party constituencies.
Mohan Gopal, director of Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Contemporary Studies, has been made a special invitee, reinforcing the perception that the body is emerging as a Congress think-tank. Party managers have raised doubts over “political instincts” of the Manmohan Singh regime, and the panel may be mandated to ensure that the newfound stress on cutting costs does not come at the cost of “aam aadmi” schemes.
Leaders also attacked the recent decision to cap subsidized cooking gas cylinders to six a year, demanding that it be raised. The government was attacked for reports in the midst of Himachal polls that cost of subsidized cylinders may be hiked.
Sonia sought to lift spirits at the Surajkund conclave by saying that she intended to announce the poll panels to start preparations in earnest. The meeting was aimed at establishing a dialogue between the Congress organization and the government in which the negatives of UPA-II dominated amid enough indications of sagging morale.
The announcement of key poll panels shows that the Congress will be eager to get its strategy off the ground in time, aware that it is in for a long haul, hobbled by the negatives of corruption and malgovernance that have dominated the better part of UPA-II.