Strengthening the party at the grass-root level by encouraging intense interaction with ordinary workers would be the main objective of the Congress after the general elections, said Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi during a day-long visit to Chhattisgarh. The party would listen to the workers “more attentively” and decide the future course of action across the country, he said.
Mr. Gandhi interacted with the representatives of various frontal organisations of the Congress and spoke for about eight minutes in the local Indoor Stadium here. Nearly three thousand party workers attended the programme.
He stressed the need to increase “interaction” between the leaders and the ordinary cadres of the Congress. “We will initiate a big change in the party after the Lok Sabha election,” Mr. Gandhi said. He also reiterated the importance for the party worker to understand the “good work” done by the Congress government.
“A new class has been created by the Congress in last 10 years. The size of this class is huge – 70 crore. This class is above the lower income group, but also below the middle class (as far as earning is concerned)… people who are working as plumbers, taxi drivers, carpenters etc. belong to this class,” he said.
While underscoring that creating such a class was an achievement of the Congress, Mr. Gandhi said the new class would be “economically absorbed” in the middle income group if the Congress was re-elected. “This class is the strength of the country,” he said and asked the workers to highlight the creation of the new class as the party’s achievement. He also emphasised the need to highlight various pro-poor policies of the United Progressive Alliance II.
Representatives of various primitive tribes met Mr Gandhi during his visit here.
