Congress likely to come up with revival blueprint by March

New Delhi A blueprint for revival of Congress is expected to be ready by March with Sonia Gandhiasking state unit chiefs to seek views of grassroots workers on how to turn around the partys fortunesAfter Rahul Gandhis directive to party general secretaries to get feedback from district and block levels the Congress president has formally written to them as well state chiefs asking them to seek the views and submit a report to her by February end sources saidAn AICC meeting is likely in March to take up these suggestions which will also be compiled in a book form theysaidThe missive sent by her to the AICC general secretaries secretaries and PCC chiefs almost a week ago comes after amarathon meeting Congress Vice President Rahul held with the party leaders here on December 24 in which he asked themto replicate his model of discussions with state leaders to the districts and blocks and send them a report after twomonthsSonias letter also asks the PCC chiefs to send their feedback by February end after consulting party workers howto revive and resurrect the Congress the sources saidThe missive is significant as the states have been asked to give their feedback before the leadership has planned tohold the annual AICC meeting in March where the feedback could pave way for an action planThe party also plans to come out with a compilation of the suggestions received from the grass roots in a bookletform Grappling to arrest the partys sliding base Rahul has reached out to the bottom rung of party workers holdingregular interactions with them in groups for last more than twothree months after the debacle of Congress in Lok Sabha pollsAfter his direct interaction with more than 400 leaders from all states Rahul told the general secretaries in aseparate meeting to get feedback from blocks and districts and come back to him with suggestion on how to strengthen the party at the grass roots and make a turn aroundIssues like how to widen the partys reach what should Congress organisation look like and whether any changes arerequired and how to push the core ideology of Congress among people and convey to the cadres with clarity have beendiscussed in these meetingsIn a number of group meetings that Rahul held leaders said that the party needs to regain its hold of liberal Hinduvotes as impression was created that Congress was only talking of minorities and is not bothered about Hindu votes which benefited BJPA section in the party believes that the partys secularism plank was stretched to the extent that it started looking like advocating minoritism and the perception needs to be correctedThe view is that the upper caste Hindus especially Brahmins who were traditional voters of Congress shifted en bloc to BJP in the last Lok Sabha polls while the party has lost out on Dalit and OBC votes with the rise of caste politics especially in the Hindi heartlandAll these issues have come up in discussions on the ideological challenges before Congress and the leadership iskeen to get the views of grassroots workers on themOne of the issues on which Rahul is particularly focused is how to widen the partys reach and connect with NGOsemployees unions and other bodiesThere is also a buzz that Rahul could undertake a padyatra as early as this month to revive the party fortunesAICC general secretary Organisation Janardan Dwivedi however downplayed a question on it saying you will beinformed whenever any such thing happens After handing over a crushing defeat to Congress in Lok Sabha polls BJP has humbled it in assembly elections in Maharashtra Haryana Jharkhand and Jammu KashmirWhile Congress was in power in Haryana on its own it was in the ruling coalition in Maharashtra Jharkhand and Jammuand KashmirThere is a view in the party that since the next general elections will be held five years from now it is time for the party to focus on its organisation in the states