The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) has decided to begin its preparations for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, with its Political Affairs Committee (PAC) meeting on Wednesday launching a preliminary discussion on the subject. The meeting was convened with this single point agenda.
The party leaders have decided to start work for the 2019 general elections in the midst of the current organisational revamp process, with the completion of the first phase of membership enrolment.
It is, therefore, but natural for the party to think about repositioning itself ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. It is a different matter that the party leadership at the State level and the High Command have not exactly conducted a meaningful evaluation of the 2014 Lok Sabha and the 2016 Assembly election defeats.
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The Congress party, which was hit by a paralysis of sorts after the election over fixing responsibility for the defeat, was saved from continued dysfunction by V.M. Sudheeran’s resignation as KPCC president. The Congress leaders can take consolation that the LDF government’s decision to undo the UDF’s liquor policy in parts can help it safely bury controversies over the bar licence issue that ended in one of the worst electoral drubbings the party got in recent times. The operative part of the LDF's liquor policy is that it will help the Congress party to leave behind the nightmares that liquor bar issue caused and move forward.
The Congress PAC has decided to meet again on August 5 to hold further discussions on the electoral strategy to be adopted. It will have to examine how it can woo large sections of the minority communities back to its fold. It would also have to work a separate strategy for Central Travancore in the context of the changing complexion of the politics that is being played out there and the inroads the CPI(M) seems to be making.
In the meantime, the party high command would have to oversee the installation of a KPCC president to head a team that would help it to regain the lost ground in recent times to the LDF and to a lesser extent to the BJP.
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