The leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha will inaugurate the ‘Sangathan Srajan Abhiyan’ (Organisation Rejuvenation Campaign) announced during the extended Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting held in Belagavi in December 2024.
The visit will commence at 11am and will go on for a little over five hours, party leaders said.
“The ‘Abhiyan’ is being launched to strengthen the organisation at the grassroots level and instil enthusiasm among party workers. We have not been in power in Madhya Pradesh for a long time,” former MP Congress chief Arun Yadav and ex-minister Sajjan Verma told reporters on Monday.
The MP Congress is going to pass a resolution thanking Gandhi for the caste-based enumeration during his little over five-hour visit, MP media coordinator Abhinav Barolia told PTI.
By this, the Congress will try to send out a message that Gandhi had worked hard for the proposed census for uplift of all, especially Other Backward Classes, which form more than 50 per cent of MP’s population.
Incidentally, the BJP, since 2003 has appointed OBCs as chief ministers, namely Uma Bharti, Babulal Gaur, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and now Mohan Yadav.
Former MP Congress chief Arun Yadav said ‘Mission 2028’ is aimed at bringing Congress to power in Madhya Pradesh once again by winning the upcoming assembly elections.
A similar exercise was implemented by Congress in Gujarat, where like MP, the party is in shambles.
Barring a 15-month period from December 2018 to March 2020 when Kamal Nath was chief minister, the Congress has been out of power since 2003 in Madhya Pradesh.
In the 2023 assembly elections, the BJP handed a crushing defeat to Congress by improving its tally in the 230-member House by 54 seats to 163. The principal opposition party was reduced to 66 seats.
Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP made a target of inducting one lakh Congress workers into its fold in order to win all 29 seats in the state. It managed to achieve a clean sweep, in the process wresting Kamal Nath’s stronghold of Chhindwara.
Arun Yadav said the party rejuvenation campaign aims to strengthen the organisational framework and establish better coordination and communication among the rank and file, office-bearers, MPs, MLAs, and representatives of various units.
“After arriving in Bhopal, Rahul Gandhi will visit the state Congress office and attend a meeting of the political affairs committee,” Verma said, adding that senior leaders from Madhya Pradesh will discuss the political situation and upcoming challenges.
Gandhi will subsequently attend an interactive session with MPs and MLAs followed by meetings with observers appointed by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) and state in-charges.
The former Congress president will address a convention comprising representatives of AICC, state Congress, and district and block-level presidents of the party unit.
Verma claimed the Central government agreed to conduct a caste-based census due to Gandhi’s spirited advocacy for social inclusion.
“Rahul was initially mocked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior BJP leaders for strongly demanding a caste-based census, but eventually, they bowed to the demand,” he said, adding that a thanksgiving is on the cards for Rahul Gandhi for advocating the caste-based census. PTI LAL NSK BNM
