The Congress has started taking steps to rebuild and strengthen its grassroots network and restore the party’s lost ground in Odisha ahead of the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in the State early next year.
A three-day meeting of the newly constituted State executive committee of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee, which concluded here on Tuesday, resolved to embark on a "my booth, my pride" campaign to reach out to the voters at the booth level and propagate the party’s ideology. The criteria for selecting candidates for next year's polls were also discussed threadbare by the Pradesh Election Committee. The party plans to announce the names of at least 50 candidates within a few weeks. The remaining candidates, including women and youth, will be selected based on their winning prospects.
‘Highlight govt. failures’
Alleging that the ruling Biju Janata Dal had clandestinely joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party, the State Congress leaders said they will take on both the parties by highlighting the "failures" of the Narendra Modi Government at the Centre and the Naveen Patnaik Government in the State.
The Congress leaders have also started holding talks with smaller parties such as the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the CPI and the CPI(M) with a view to form an alliance ahead of the polls.
At the end of the meeting, AICC's Odisha in-charge Jitendra Singh and OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik announced that apart from highlighting the issues concerning the people, they will make the Rafale fighter aircraft deal a major plank during the forthcoming elections in the State. They said Odisha suffered immensely because of the Rafale scam. Had the aircraft been built at HAL’s Sunabeda factory, it would have generated jobs for Odia youth, they said.