By IANS,
Lucknow: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi here Tuesday exhorted partymen to pull up their socks and come out on the streets with the aim to bring the party back to power in the country’s most populous state.
He was here to address the valedictory session of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee’s two-day coordination committee meeting.
In his brief speech, the Gandhi scion urged partymen to give up their docile and passive approach and gear up for the next state assembly elections due in 2012.
“The need of the hour is to reach out to the masses, understand and share their problems and come out on the streets to help them grapple with those issues,” he told the crowded gathering at the state party headquarters, where he spent nearly four hours.
“You also need to build your own confidence, that is extremely important to steer the party ahead.
“You ought to realise that if all other political parties – BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party), SP (Samajwadi Party) and BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) are busy targeting the Congress, it clearly reflects the potential strength of our party that pose a threat to all of them,” he said.
He wondered why state Congressmen were always defensive instead of taking on others. “It is time that Congress activists become aggressive on people related issues and stop remaining defensive for no rhyme or reason.”
He also called upon partymen to launch a campaign against communalism and communal forces.
Embarking on the all important question of finalising the list of candidates for the next assembly election, he said: “The candidature of at least 100-150 is quite widely known and we should be able to announce these by the month of March.”
Although he did not specify any deadline for the complete list, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh later told reporters that the final list should be ready by May 31.
Meanwhile, the coordination committee has decided to ensure that the party hold its conventions at the individual city and district levels latest by March 31 as part of the electoral preparedness.