A leaf out of Modi's book? Maharashtra Cong plans Chowk Pe Charcha events

If imitation is the best form of flattery, the Congress party appears set to give Narendra Modi a rather grand salute. For the Maharashtra Congress is set to launch its ‘Chowk Pe Charcha’ campaign, apparently inspired by the Prime Minister’s ‘Chai Pe Charcha’ meetings in the run up to general elections earlier this year.

Of course, the Congress party had then attacked the then prime ministerial candidate’s campaign idea as a gimmick.

According to Congress leaders in the state, they have been discussing various strategies as a part of preparations for Assembly elections over the past few weeks. The ‘Chowk Pe Charcha’ campaign will be part of the party’s Assembly election campaigning, said a leader.

“Party activists will go to chowks or major road junctions in their areas and will tell people about the state government’s work, achievements and various policies. The activists will also tell people about the false claims made by the BJP during the Lok Sabha election campaigning,” said Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Manikrao Thakare, while speaking to Firstpost.

He added that an announcement about the campaign is likely to be made in a rally in coming days.

As a part of Assembly election preparations, a meeting of senior Congress leaders from western Maharashtra region was held in Pune on Thursday. AICC general secretary and in-charge of Maharashtra Mohan Prakash, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, MPCC president Manikrao Thakare, senior congress leader Sushilkumar Shinde and other prominent Congress leaders attended the meeting.

Congress leaders said that the Chowk Pe Charcha campaign is being launched to avoid the mistakes committed by the party in the Lok Sabha election campaigning. “Despite the good work by UPA, we failed to communicate with the people about the UPA’s achievements and policies. It was one of the major mistakes committed by us during the Lok Sabha election. So, to counter the BJP in the coming Assembly election, we have decided to launch this campaign which will also energize the party cadres,” said a senior party leader.

The leader added that Congress ministers, senior party leaders and spokespersons would be part of the campaign to provide the information about the state government’s achievements and polices to the people.