BENGALURU: The free interaction of the ministers of the Siddaramaiah Cabinet with AICC leaders, held here on Friday, elicited a slew of suggestions for the rejuvenation of the party. Some even said they need to learn a few lessons from the rise of the BJP.
AICC in-charge for Karnataka Digvijay Singh and party national secretaries Shataram Naik and Chellakumar sought feedback on all issues including the need, if any, for changes in the party’s organisational structure and ideology. They also sought to know if the Congress government needed to change its policies and programmes to attract the new generation.
According to sources, the AICC leaders, who had convened a meeting of the council of ministers including Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, discussed at length strategies to bring about changes in the party to regain its lost ground.
One of the senior ministers in the Siddaramaiah government said, “Our opinion was sought on whether there is any need for changes in the party’s ideologies.
Many suggested the need to go beyond just social welfare oriented programmes to development oriented economic programmes.”
“So far, the thrust of the party’s programmes was on emancipation of the downtrodden, women, minorities and vulnerable sections in society, and it should be expanded beyond that,” he further said.
The ministers who attended the meeting also advocated the need to ease formalities in registering party members, which is cumbersome at present.
“Instead of issuing separate membership cards for youths and others it was suggested that the party introduce a single card for all categories of party members.” the minister said.
It was also decided to give more thrust to employ new media platforms, in which the party is lagging behind the BJP.
A suggestion to bring out a periodical to highlight various schemes launched by the state government also came up for discussion at the meeting and it was left to the KPCC to take the lead on the issue, sources said.