Congress leaders and workers hope to return to power in the State by transforming the party from a mass-based outfit to a cadre-based one, and by using mobile technology.
Speaking at a one-day orientation on the significance of booth committees, AICC general secretary in-charge of A.P. Oommen Chandy said there was a change in the voters’ line of thought. “Earlier, the candidate and the party symbol were sufficient. But now, voters want to know about the candidate they are going to elect better,” Mr. Chandy said.
The Congress, which was a mass-based party, had to change into a cadre- based party, the leaders told the delegates, who were Assembly Constituency Coordinators.
Mr. Chandy said when he took over as person in-charge, the party had no committees for districts. But now, all the committees, from the Assembly constituency to the booth level, had been constituted.
Out of the 175 Assembly constituencies, coordination committees had already been formed for 166, he said.
Mobile phones
AICC secretary K. Raju said all the 44,000 booth committee presidents would be connected by mobile phones. The technology needed for having a teleconference with all the booth committee presidents would be made available soon, Mr. Raju said.
APCC president N. Raghuveera Reddy said modern tools like voter mapping and public perception would also be used to increase the party’s vote share. The booth committee members would go on door-to-door campaign to get additional information.