The Congress, accused often of having a lackadaisical attitude, has quietly transformed itself, starting preparations for the next parliamentary elections almost a year in advance, apart from demonstrating exceptional flexibility in coalition-making.

Meetings of senior leaders from 16 states have already been completed, apart from strategy sessions for the five Assembly elections due in November-December. Even the nature of meetings has been changed by accommodating all factions and both Rahul Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge remain present for the whole day to understand first-hand the ground reality in each state instead of relying on the general secretary in charge for feedback.

Around 20-30 important leaders are picked from each state and given the opportunity to speak freely in front of Kharge and Rahul. The routine complaint that the party grappled with earlier was that the in-charge of the state played games and the top leadership remained in the dark. Now a cross-section of leaders from states are allowed to unbosom themselves before the final authority.

Apart from seeking redress for personal grievances and factional issues, these meetings have also brought to the table different sets of ideas and imagination, enabling the top leadership to evolve the final strategy on the basis of a wide spectrum of inputs. One senior leader told The Telegraph: “We discussed all issues without any restrictions; such opportunities were seldom available in the party. Both Kharge and Rahul now can make a better assessment of issues in the states and talent available in the party.”

While this mechanism has also created an opportunity for the central leaders to address the vital question of unity within the party, the interactions have helped in kick-starting the preparations for the battle in May 2024 with enough time at hand. Specific tasks have been given to leaders, along with outreach programmes for the state and district units. A broad identification of state-wise issues has also been done to bolster targeted campaigning.

There was no such platform available earlier for a detailed discussion on state-specific issues and the central leadership relied on the inputs provided by the state in-charge alone. The party expects to complete this exercise before the next stage of candidate selection and campaigns. Even the Youth Congress and the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) have started working on the theme “Judega Vidyarthi-Jitega India”, and a programme is being worked out to ensure Rahul’s meeting with the students in different states.

This new initiative has helped the party overcome a vital disability — the absence of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), which is expected to discuss issues and prepare broad strategies. While the party inexplicably wasted lots of time after the 2019 election because of the confusion over leadership, it has not been able to raise the new structure even after Kharge’s election as president in October 2022. Kharge was authorised to constitute the new CWC and other committees at the Raipur plenary in February this year.

Another noticeable change has come in the form of flexibility towards coalitions, best manifested through its readiness to align with the Aam Aadmi Party. The leadership ignored suggestions from its Delhi and Punjab units and made a pragmatic choice of tying up with the AAP to ensure the BJP doesn’t gain in these states. They have also included the Samajwadi Party in the INDIA group, indicating a coalition in Uttar Pradesh which again will be achieved by overriding the wish of the state unit.