Faced with the daunting task of reversing its electoral fortunes which have been on a decline in Uttarakhand, the Congress party has started preparations for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The party has recently appointed in-charges in all the 70 Assembly segments as part of its strategy to strengthen the party organisation in all the districts of the State. The central leadership of the party is expected to appoint five senior leaders as in-charges in the five Lok Sabha constituencies of the State. Kumari Selja has been appointed the party's State in-charge. It is learnt that the party high command has directed the senior leaders of the faction ridden State unit to resolve their differences so that a challenge to the formidable BJP can be given in the general elections scheduled next year.
The party intends to bring its organisation in election mode soon. The district level conventions of the Congress workers are being organised to galvanise the party cadre. In an attempt to strengthen its organisation the party is planning to set up booth level teams of workers. In every team 21 to 51 workers will be there and this team will work at the ground level to take the policies and ideology of the party to the people.
Apart from strengthening the party, the central leadership wants the senior leaders to sink their differences and work in tandem to defeat BJP. Apart from stalwart and former CM Harish Rawat, the party is banking on leadership qualities and charisma of PCC president Karan Mahara, leader of opposition (LoP) in the Assembly Yashpal Arya, Harak Singh Rawat, former PCC presidents Pritam Singh and Ganesh Godiyal to pull the party out of rut in the State. The party is planning to raise the issues of Agniveer recruitment in the army, Ankita Bhandari murder and unemployment to attract the voters in the State in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
After the crushing defeat in the Assembly elections of 2022, the party high command appointed young Karan Mahara as the PCC president. However, his appointment irked the camp followers of former PCC president and six-time MLA from Chakrata, Pritam Singh. The party still appears to be divided in the camps of former CM Harish Rawat, PCC president Karan Mahara, former PCC president Pritam Singh and LoP Yashpal Arya. It is interesting to note that the party leaders have not taken any lessons from the string of electoral losses the party faced in the State in the last 10 years. Congress, which had won all the five Lok Sabha seats in the elections of 2009 suffered a reversal of fortune in the general elections of 2014 as it lost all the five seats to BJP. Its electoral fortune dipped further as the party lost power to BJP in the state in the assembly elections of 2017. In these elections the party could secure victory in only 11 seats while BJP won a landslide victory by winning in 57 seats. In the general elections of 2019, Congress again lost in all the five seats while in the assembly elections of 2022, the BJP defied the convention and dashed hopes of Congress by obtaining a two third majority in the 70-member Assembly.
