Amid the focus on Opposition unity and seat-sharing, the Congress is scheduled to use the next three days in Hyderabad to discuss consolidation of its own position, which is being viewed as the most critical element of any credible challenge that can be posed to the Narendra Modi dispensation.

This will be a rare occasion when the Congress Working Committee (CWC) will get to discuss election preparedness for two full days on September 16 and 17, while the third day will be used for a unique public outreach when leaders across the country will collectively launch a door-to-door campaign. The CWC usually meets for three to four hours to discuss multiple issues but this time the sole agenda is the upcoming elections.

The leadership understands that the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana are extremely important as the outcomes will be a referendum on the Congress’s ability to wrestle with the BJP in direct contests.

Even the result in Mizoram will indicate whether the BJP is going to lose its grip on the Northeast after the terrible misgovernance in Manipur.

Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana together send 82 members to the Lok Sabha, and the Congress won only 6 of them in the 2019 parliamentary elections. That’s a pathetic performance, establishing that the Congress lacks the political wherewithal to stop the BJP in a direct fight. Although a local party, the BRS, is the main party in Telangana, there is no INDIA partner in the state and the Congress has to battle it out alone.

If the Congress doesn’t dramatically improve its performance in these four states, the Opposition challenge will fizzle out again. Sources in INDIA, the Opposition combine, insist that the Congress will have to win at least 40 seats in these four states to substantially whittle down the BJP’s overall tally. The Congress has decided to pour all its energies into these Assembly elections.

K.C. Venugopal, the Congress general secretary in charge of organisation, on Friday asserted at a media conference in Hyderabad: “We are going to form the government in all the four states. The atmosphere has changed after the formation of the Opposition alliance INDIA and the people are looking up to us with hope. Narendra Modi and K. Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) are two sides of the same coin; while Modi is disturbing the people of India, KCR is disturbing the people of Telangana.”

Stressing the importance of the CWC meeting outside Delhi, which is a rare occurrence, Venugopal highlighted that the Prime Minister had broken his silence on Manipur after many days. “Manipur has experienced unspeakable pain. The BJP talks of nationalism. What nationalism? China took away our territory. We deliver what we promise; all the guarantees have been fulfilled in Karnataka within 100 days of coming to power.”

Karnataka is another significant state in the plan for Congress revival. It has 28 Lok Sabha seats, and the Congress has only two at the moment. The objective is to snatch at least 15 from the BJP and therefore, there was no delay in implementing the welfare schemes.

The Congress expects this sincerity will bolster the party’s prospects in Telangana as well. Another state where the Congress is in a direct fight with the BJP is Gujarat, where the party’s plight doesn’t inspire hope. The Congress expects to wrest a few seats from the BJP in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

A strong performance by the Congress in the next round of Assembly elections will not only pump the much-needed adrenaline into the Opposition camp, it will also prime the nation for a fierce battle.

Sources said Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had decided to campaign extensively in these four states over the next three months. Even the first INDIA public rally is planned for Bhopal in election-bound Madhya Pradesh.

‘G-14’ anchors

The Opposition grouping has been showing its aggressive intent with its prompt counters to the government’s narrative. Its decision to boycott several TV anchors who habitually defend the BJP and vilify the Opposition has also sent out a combative message, creating an impression that the bloc is not going to be defensive in the run-up to the 2024 battle.

Asked about the sagacity of boycotting journalists, which many Opposition leaders are describing as mere non-cooperation as no coercive intent was involved, Venugopal said: “The G-14 Group of Anchors needs to understand the difference between our choice of skipping their hate-peddling circus and censorship of the kind that happens through the PMO every morning. I challenge them to answer -- do you not receive instructions from PMO officials every day? Did you object to the government’s attempt to ‘neutralise’ negative narratives in 2021? Are you not the first to help the government in achieving its goal?”