Bhubaneswar: Giving a call to partymen in
Orissa to `go to villages`, the opposition Congress said a
two-pronged strategy would be formed to check alleged
siphoning of central funds by the BJD government and to gear
up for the next assembly polls from now on.
"Gaon Chalo (Go to Villages) is the call given to
rejuvenate the party in Orissa. Real base of Congress exists
in vast rural areas and not in cities like Bhubaneswar,"
senior leader and AICC`s Orissa in-charge Jagdish Tytler told
reporters here last night.
Underlining the need to pull Congress out of woods to
oust ruling BJD, Tytler said party leaders and workers must
take a break "from urban comforts and cosy life-style" and
work hard for regaining people`s confidence.
Though the next assembly elections are still a good
three years away, preparations for returning to power would
begin now and the course of action to dethrone the Naveen
Patnaik government should be ready in about a fortnight, he
said during an interaction.
To enable party nominees to work in constituencies,
party candidates would be chosen well in advance, may be a
year before the polls, he said adding Congress would not
resort to the last minute announcement of candidates.
On organisational restructuring and change of OPCC
President, Tytler said the party would refrain from acting in
a hurried manner and wide-ranging interactions with partymen
would be held before a report is submitted to party President
Sonia Gandhi for appropriate action.
"Our aim is to steer the party to victory at the
hustings in 2013," the former union minister said adding
people in Orissa are looking for a viable alternative as they
are fed up with the BJD regime which has been swindling huge
central funds meant for welfare schemes.
Though thousands of crores of rupees were given by the
Centre for of a number of programmes, large chunks of funds
were siphoned off or remained unspent, he alleged.
Corruption is rampant as a series of scams including
mining, coal and `dal scandals` rocked the state, Tytler said
adding there is no dearth of issues and the party needs to
become more aggressive to expose the Naveen regime.
The party would remain vigilant and closely monitor
implementation of different centrally funded schemes to check
siphoning of money and ensure the benefits reach the poor, the
senior Congress leader said.
Stating that he would regularly visit Orissa for
strengthening the party, Tytler said he would hold a brain
storming session with party MLAs on April 3.
PTI
