Updated: October 24, 2020 5:31:27 pm
Congressional leader Rahul Gandhi with Grand Alliance ministerial chief Tejashwi Yadav at a public meeting in Hisua, in the Nawada district of Bihar. (Image source: Bihar Youth Congress / Twitter)
AT HIS first rally for the Bihar Assembly elections on Friday, the former President of Congress Rahul Gandhi focused on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the policies of your government. However, there is a concerted effort by Congress this time to ensure that the elections in Bihar remain on local issues.
A large team of high command leaders is stationed in Patna managing the campaign and coordinating with RJD allies and left-wing parties behind the scenes, but that is almost the extent of the Delhi connection.
Congressional sources said local leaders are not even interested in too many outside names, unless Rahul Gandhi and the party’s top ministers come to campaign, to ensure that the focus does not deviate from local issues. There is clear instruction for leaders specifically not to raise divisive issues or react to controversial or emotional issues raised by the BJP. Follow the live updates of the Bihar 2020 elections
Congress appears to have learned a lesson from Jharkhand, where the JMM and Congress conducted a strictly localized campaign that paid off.
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The party’s campaign committee, for the 70 seats it is contesting, is headed by the communication department in charge of the AICC, Randeep Surjewala, and includes its head of social media, Rohan Gupta, national spokesperson Pawan Khera and leaders such as former AICC Secretary General Mohan Prakash, former Union Minister Subodh Kant Sahay, who belongs to the region, and Captain Ajay Yadav of Haryana, whose son is married to one of the RJD leader’s daughters, Lalu Prasad.
Additionally, three to six observers per constituency have been appointed, with a war room in Patna receiving 24-hour updates and processing candidate requirements.
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There is a coordinating committee of allies that meets every day at 8 pm. From the Congress, the meeting is attended by Mohan Prakash, Sahay or Ajay Yadav. From the RJD, Manoj Kumar Jha or Shivanand Tiwari are present.
The overwhelming presence of names from outside has caused some discontent among party leaders in Bihar that they are being “marginalized”. However, on other matters, Congress takes local sentiments into account. “We are not asking outside leaders to hold demonstrations. So far Raj Babbar has addressed a few rallies. It will address a few more. Shatrughan Sinha is a local favorite. He will also address the demonstrations, ”a senior leader told The Indian Express.
Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel will arrive on Saturday and will address three meetings.
“In large part, we are running a local campaign. So far we have managed not to get carried away by controversies of the Jinnah or Pakistan type. We are ignoring the controversial statements of the BJP leaders and the problems before us. Our candidates are more particular in that the campaign must be local … We are not planning any public meeting of external leaders. They will come and speak at press conferences in Patna and they will leave, ”said another senior leader.
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In a reference to Mani Shankar Aiyar’s “neech” comment on Modi in the middle of the Gujarat elections, which had passed the speech, a senior congressional leader said: “Some of our leaders are capable of giving us such surprises. We hope and pray that they don’t. “
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