Here's why Congress should immediately finalise candidates for LS polls

New Delhi: Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party has come out with its first list of candidates for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, the Congress is seemingly yet to take a decision on its probable candidates in the crucial polls. 

Top leadership’s lackadaisical approach and delay in taking a decision is hurting the poll prospects of the party even as the saffron camp is preparing for the electoral battle ahead.

The late, off the mark, approach is expected to adversely affect the prospects of the grand old party in the general elections even as it stares at desertion by several top leaders, allies and a cadre whose morale is at an all-time low.

Sources stated that instead of focusing on finalising candidates for the upcoming electoral battle the party’s top leadership seems to be completely out of focus. 

“This was probably the worst possible time to launch and continue with the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. The political move is becoming a drag on the resources of the party and doesn’t seem to be adding to the vote base of the Congress,” sources pointed out.

The laid-back attitude of the Congress’ top leadership can be gauged from the fact that its chief Mallikarjun Kharge is awaiting time from party leader Rahul Gandhi for suitable time to discuss and settle probable names for the first list. 

The party’s junior leaders and workers know very well the Congress’ top leadership needs to immediately finalise the list of probable candidates if they want to give any meaningful contest to the BJP, which has already come out with its list of 195 candidates for the forthcoming polls.

It is understood that at various party forums, top Congress leadership also blamed the ongoing negotiations over seat sharing with INDIA bloc partners for the delay in finalising candidates.  

Despite knowing that there is a possible saffron wave on the ground, in the aftermath of Pran Pratishtha at Ram Janmbhoomi Temple in Ayodhya, the sense of urgency in the grand old party is visibly missing while preparing for the forthcoming general elections, sources pointed out.

Congress’ list to be out soon?

The Congress is set to hold two meetings of the Central Election Committee (CEC) and the Congress Working Committee (CWC) over the next few days to finalise the first list of candidates.

Congress’ first list is likely to finalise over 100 seats including candidates from Goa, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, and the North East states.

Soon after the first list the grand old party is also expected to unveil its electoral manifesto that will aim to counter the BJP’s poll narrative, sources said. 

However, the sense of urgency amongst the top leaders seems to be missing with most of them having resigned to the fact that the Congress is set for its worst ever performance in Lok Sabha polls, sources added.

Instead of putting in place a strategy to counter the saffron narrative, the top leadership of the grand old party is seemingly beholden to the whims of the scion of the Congress’ first family. 

It is high time that the grand old party course corrects immediately or else it will be contributing greatly to the cause of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s target of 400 plus seats for the National Democratic Alliance in the forthcoming polls.