New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi has asked the West Bengal Congress to go to the people and make its presence felt across all 294 Assembly seats ahead of the 2026 polls in the Trinamool Congress-ruled state.
The Congress and the Left parties fought the 2021 Assembly elections together but could not win even a single seat in the 294-member House. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections too, the Congress could win only one of the 42 parliamentary seats in the state. However, in the coming contest, the Congress plans to go solo.
Rahul reviewed the party’s strategy for the next year’s elections along with senior state leaders on Wednesday. The Congress has an opportunity to grow in the state but must first strengthen its own base, Rahul told the state leaders.
"He asked us to go to the people, take up their causes and make our presence felt on the ground. Only then will the people come back to us. There is an opportunity for the party to expand but we have to do a lot of work over the coming days," All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary in charge of West Bengal Assaf Ali Khan told ETV Bharat.
Amid a renewed focus on empowering the local units across the country, the former party chief also asked the state leaders to focus on organisational appointments ahead of the AICC session in Ahmedabad on April 8 and 9. Accordingly, the 23 posts of district unit heads will be filled up soon, said Khan, adding that work on other party units and cells was also going on.
The Congress recently named senior leader Subhankar Sarkar as the new state unit chief who is busy with organisational work as well as protesting over public issues. The Lok Sabha MP also agreed to do a foot march in the state after the AICC session as most of the state leaders urged him to do so during the review meeting.
"He said I am willing to visit the state whenever needed but before that, it was important that the Congress workers should be seen on the ground," said Khan.
The AICC functionary said that several areas of the state were feeling neglected by the state government and that the grand old party would reach out to them in a planned way over the coming days.
"The state government has almost completed 15 years but the benefits have not reached all sections of society. The Congress will have to represent their interests," said Khan.
State unit chief Sarkar targeted both the ruling TMC and the main opposition BJP saying both benefited by polarising the voters over the past years.
"The people suffer due to the fixed match of the TMC and BJP who always talk about the Hindu-Muslim factor. The Congress carries a vision which is for all sections of society. During the meeting, the leaders expressed their views before the high command which listened to them for over two hours. Over the coming days, we would hit the streets to flag the shortcomings of the state government which impact the common man," Sarkar told ETV Bharat.
