New Delhi: In the first major poll exercise after the party's drubbing in recent Assembly elections, Rahul Gandhi on Friday held a strategy session with top leaders and Chief Ministers of 12 Congress-ruled states to make the party fighting fit for the Lok Sabha polls.
The day-long exercise that commenced in the morning saw full attendance of Congress Chief Ministers along with senior leaders A K Antony, Sushilkumar Shinde, P Chidambaram, Ahmed Patel, Jairam Ramesh, Digvijay Singh, Janardan Dwivedi, Kapil Sibal and K B Thomas.
Having lost the polls in Delhi and Rajasthan, Congress is currently in power in 12 states--- Manipur, Mizoram, Assam, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Arunachal Pradesh, Kerala and Meghalaya. With the election defeats rankling in memory, the party is keen to work out the strategy to retain the states where it is in power at present as there seems little possibility of it doing very well in the states already ruled by BJP as the Assembly elections showed.
While BJP bettered its performance in Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led Madhya Pradesh, it managed to retain Chhattisgarh despite Congress doing well in Bastar riding over a sympathy wave after the Maoist massacre of its leadership.
The margin with which BJP wrested power from Congress in Rajasthan has also come a surprise for Congress. In Delhi while BJP managed to somewhat weather the AAP storm, Congress was virtually wiped out. So "home is where we gather grace" seems to be mantra of the meeting as the party is keen to retain Congress-ruled states.
The role of Chief Ministers like Virbhadra Singh in Himachal Pradesh and Bhupinder Singh Hooda in Haryana could be important as such. The meeting being held at 15, Rakabganj Road, also known as Congress War Room, to work out poll strategies will discuss the future course for the party in the wake of the passage of Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill.
The issue of price rise and steps to arrest it will be taken up in detail at the conclave which will also discuss the food security issue. Party-ruled Haryana and Uttarakhand were among the first to launch the scheme, which UPA believes is a gamechanger for 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi has a degree from Cambridge University, but when it comes to politics, he has his backroom boys as advisors. From what he wears to what he talks, everything is scrutinised. This is the team, comprising Oxford scholars to former bureaucrats, that stands by Rahul as he takes on BJP's PM candidate Narendra Modi in the forthcoming general elections.
An Oxford graduate, Kaushal Vidyarthee is currently the programme manager at Rajiv Gandhi Mahila Vikas Pariyojana. As a student, he was vice-president at Oxford University Student Union. What caught Rahul's attention was avid blogger's interest in research, especially the one on incorporation of Dalits in the economy. (photo courtesy: vidyarthee.com) As part of the committee in-charge of electoral strategy, Dr. Mohan Gopal provides academic insight into party's decisions. The second ever all India president of the National Students Union of India (NSUI) Gopal plans training programmes for Congress Youth members.Koppula Raju, a 1981 batch IAS officer from Hyderabad who quit his job two months ago to join Rahul, is the chairman of the Congress cell on schedule castes. He travels extensively with Rahul, holding parleys with state unit leaders. He was one among the bureaucrats, who were kidnapped by the erstwhile People's War Group Naxalites, in Gurtedu, in East Godavari district, in 1987. Kanishka Singh, an investment banker, gave up his job at the World Bank to join politics in 2003, the year he was part of the team that helped Delhi CM Sheila Dixit's sweep in the assembly polls. Ever since Congress won Amethi seat in 2004, he has been a companion of Rahul. Singh, a computer engineer and MBA from Wharton, was in charge of door-to-door campaigning in the Saraini Assembly segment.K B Byju, former SPG sharp shooter who provided protection to the Gandhi family, quit forces three years ago to take a plunge into politics. He is the point person for Rahul's (in pic) outstation tours as he coordinates with security personnel and at times, he acts as media coordinator too. (Byju's pic was not available)Sachin Rao, a graduate of the Michigan Business School, manages matters concerning internal surveys and also Youth Congress. Alankar Sawai, a former banker, is now in-charge of documents and social media in the Rahul's team. Like Sachin Rao, Sawai also looks after Youth Congress affairs. (Alankar's pic wasn't available)Apart from this core team, Rahul has others providing him advice on many fronts. Congress leader Digvijay Singh is commonly known as Rahul's mentor or personal loud speaker. Lok Sabha MP from Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh, Meenakshi Natarajan, is often referred by Rahul as a politician who has made success despite not having pedigree. She lives by her rules as taking public transport. 
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