Days after Sonia Gandhi’s committee to deliberate on election strategist Prashant Kishor’s presentation to Congress submitted its report, the party president established yet another internal group—the empowered action group 2024—to address the political challenges it faces. The group’s composition, however, has yet to be announced.
The party has also announced that it will hold a brainstorming session called Nav Sankalp Chintan Shivir from May 13 to May 15 in Udaipur, Rajasthan. The three-day session would be attended by 400 Congress leaders from across the country.
Sonia Gandhi also met with members of the eight-person group that listened to Kishor’s presentation. P Chidambaram, Ambika Soni, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Digvijaya Singh, Jairam Ramesh, Mukul Wasnik, K C Venugopal, and Randeep Surjewala were part of a group that met several times last week to go over Kishor’s presentation and prepare a report. According to sources, the committee has agreed with the majority of Kishor’s suggestions.
The meeting came just a day after the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) signed a contract with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) for the 2023 Assembly elections. According to sources, many of the senior leaders are upset that the I-PAC has signed a contract with its opponent TRS at a time when Kishor was in talks with Congress’ top brass.
Surjewala stated that the focus of the brainstorming session will be on the current political and economic situation, as well as the challenges it poses to society.
The party has already formed six committees to draught resolutions for the session. The committee that will draught the political resolution will be chaired by Rajya Sabha Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, while the committee that will draught the economic resolution will be chaired by former Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
Another committee, headed by former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, a member of the G 23 ginger group, would prepare papers and lead discussions on issues concerning farmers and agriculture. T S Singh Deo, a Chhattisgarh minister, is a member of the committee, as are Shaktisinh Gohil, Nana Patole, Partap Singh Bajwa, Arun Yadav, Akhilesh Prasad Singh, Geeta Kora, and Ajay Kumar Lallu.