The Congress party has begun to fine-tune its political strategy and marshall its resources in north Kerala for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
At least two closed-door meetings attended by All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Mukul Wasnik set in motion the process of gearing up for the elections. One of the meetings which was exclusively for the District Congress Committee presidents in the five districts of Kasaragod, Kannur, Kozhikode, Wayanad and Malappuram examined the strength and weakness of the party and the performance of Congress leaders in their constituencies.
The second one, attended by mandalam presidents in Kozhikode district, purely dealt with the ongoing activities of party. Each mandalam president gave a report of these activities in connection with the Project Shakti, a mobile application to galvanise the workers at the booth level.
In his address to local leaders, Mr. Wasnik said that a section of people had believed that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah combination was invincible after winning some of the Assembly elections. However ,the outcome of the Assembly polls in Madhaya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh had shown that this invincibility could be shattered, he said.
The Congress leader said the party was already in the midst of an election. The election to the five Assemblies was a preliminary stage. In another couple of weeks, the Election Commission of India would announce the polls to the Lok Sabha. The party should give utmost importance to the electoral rolls, he said.
Mr. Wasnik listed out five things the mandalams had to do at the booth level. This included door-to-door campaigns and distributing leaflets prepared by AICC, KPCC and DCC. Besides, collecting information about voters, focusing on membership and micro planning by tasking an activist for campaigning in 25 houses. And finally, securing funds for party work, he said.
He appreciated the performance of the MP in Kozhikode (M.K. Raghavan), the late M.K. Shanavas (Wayanad) and Vadakara (Mullappally Ramachandran) in the constituencies.
However, Mr. Wasnik said that though the Congress party had been winning the majority of Lok Sabha seats in Kozhikode and Wayanad districts, the party had not been able to send a legislator from Kozhikode district since the last three elections.
