Thiruvananthapuram: With local body and assembly elections this year, the Congress unit in Kerala is on a mission to strengthen its organisational structure at the grassroots level.
The Congress, which has been in opposition in the state Assembly since 2016, has directed its booth-level volunteers to regularly engage with voters on party ideals through marches and door-to-door meetings.
Speaking at a meeting of the party’s ward-level functionaries from Thiruvananthapuram district, All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary K.C. Venugopal said winning local body polls is the first step towards capturing power from the rival Left Democratic Front (LDF).
“We need to dethrone the Pinarayi government. Local body polls are the first step towards it. We need to work unitedly for it. We need to understand what is happening in our nearby houses,” Venugopal told over 1,500 party functionaries gathered at the Mount Carmel Convention Centre in Thiruvananthapuram’s Vazhuthacaud locality.
The AICC general secretary said cadres should visit the houses of local voters at least once a month and instructed party leaders to appoint functionaries who will be responsible for the task.
Though Kerala has historically elected the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and LDF alternately, the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF was re-elected in the 2021 Assembly election, winning 99 of the 140 seats.
A year before the Assembly polls, the CPI(M)-led LDF had also swept the local body polls in December 2020, winning three of six corporations, 10 of 14 district panchayats and 35 of 86 municipalities, in addition to a majority of block panchayats and grama panchayats.
Polling for the 1,200 local bodies is due before December 2025.
Though the Congress-led UDF won 18 of the 20 Lok Sabha seats in the general elections last year, the party in Kerala is mired in infighting between its leaders and a lack of organisation at the grassroots level.
Aiming to strengthen its structure, the party announced ‘Mission 2025’ in July 2024 at its Wayanad conclave, a campaign aimed at winning the local body polls. It also held a convention of booth-level cadres from Calicut district last month.
Venugopal said the Congress, with its democratic nature, had always accommodated different opinions.
“It’s a democratic party. But we should accommodate all the opinions and work unitedly,” he said, adding that news about infighting in the party was fuelled by the LDF as it was facing anti-incumbency sentiments from the public.
Speaking on similar lines, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K. Sudhakaran said the Congress usually hesitates to do door-to-door meetings regularly.
“The booth committees should go to each household and spend time with them. We have to understand what they need and what they have to say. They should realise that INC workers are reliable,” he said, adding that the cadres should consider the local body polls as the stepping stone for the assembly polls.
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Monthly conventions and protests
Congress district functionaries in Thiruvananthapuram told ThePrint that the party leadership has instructed local functionaries to conduct a ward convention by 28 February.
“The event will be attended by Congress workers and their families. A popular leader will be brought to deliver the speech talking about the party’s history and its politics,” Shiras Abdulvahid, a functionary from Thiruvananthapuram’s Chirayinkeezhu block told ThePrint.
Shiras said attendance at party events was mandatory for Congress-affiliated organisations such as the Mahila Morcha, Youth Congress, and the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC).
Shiras said that, in addition to corner meetings and family gatherings, party cadres have also been instructed to regularly hold protests against the state government this year, highlighting local issues.
Prashanth Cherappally, another party functionary, told ThePrint the party would hold more events in the coming months.
“We only have 9 months before the polls and we will be strengthening the booth committees and their functions in the coming days,” he said.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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