The way the Congress leaders are ‘thinking’ in Udaipur

At the beginning of the Udaipur Chintan Shibir of the Congress party, a clear message was read from the platform to the 400-odd delegates. Each of them will reunite in six separate groups of about 70 members to discuss their respective closed-door issues on six specially assigned topics. Their mobile phones must be deposited in a locker outside each of the six halls and returned after each meeting has been formally concluded.

And it was a message for both representatives and media persons at the nearest media center. That thinking is strictly designed as a closed-door discussion of business, not for the informal exchange of information, but for those elusive restructuring strategies for the party. While this may be a ground rule, the media always has a way of conducting such an experiment, even if the organizers confirm some press conference to release an official statement.

It marks the difference between the camp and the AICC session – where there are always about 8000 delegates and the speeches of many leaders in the larger gallery are kept open to the media. Like the previous three editions of Udaipur Shivar, Pachmari (2998), Shima (2003) and Jaipur (2013), this is what it follows: the way forward for internal thinking and at least a window into the Grand Old Party’s exclusive organization with the latest demands of politics. Dressed to look young and up-to-date, it is newly prepared to face the toughest tasks.

While it remains to be seen how these efforts will work, so far these six outside the Congress delegates have been engaged in ‘collective thinking’ on six different issues to renew the strategy and vision of Congress – politics, organization, economy. , Agrarian-agricultural issues, youth issues and social empowerment concerns.

By Sunday evening, a joint ‘Udaipur Declaration’ called ‘Nab Sankalp’ (New Solution) will be formulated, and after clearance by CWC, it will be unveiled to the public in a concluding session where top leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul will address. To see how this ‘new resolution’ will work for the Congress, one has to wait for the outcome of the party’s forthcoming election battle against the BJP and many rival regional parties.