Congress Working Committee meets in Gujarat; Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to address it

The Congress chose Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat for a high-profile strategy meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) in Ahmedabad, aimed at launching its Lok Sabha campaign and finalising its election strategy. General secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who has been given charge of the party in 41 constituencies of Uttar Pradesh, was to address the CWC for the first time.

The meeting

The day-long session of the party’s highest decision-making body came two days after the Election Commission announced the Lok Sabha schedule. Sources said the party wanted to send a strong message from the land of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel. Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other senior leaders were to attend. The meeting had been postponed after the February 14 Pulwama attack and the air strikes on a camp in Balakot.

State in-charge Rajeev Satav said Gujarat was hosting a CWC meeting after 58 years, the last having been in 1961. He said it also marked the anniversary of the Dandi march, which Mahatma Gandhi began on March 12, 1930, and that the Congress would start a new movement to save democracy.

Leaders began the day with a prayer meeting at the Gandhi Ashram in Sabarmati, paid tribute to soldiers at a memorial and then moved to the Sardar Patel National Memorial. A ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’ Jan Sankalp rally was planned in Gandhinagar later in the day. Patidar leader Hardik Patel was set to join the party in Rahul Gandhi’s presence.

Defections and campaign themes

The Gujarat Congress, facing infighting, alleged that the BJP was engineering defections, with three of its legislators quitting in four days. Sources said a few more might leave before polling begins on April 11. Senior leaders want the campaign to focus on unemployment, demonetisation and farm distress, and the party planned to issue a statement on these issues after the meeting.

What happened next

In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the BJP won 303 of 543 seats and the Congress 52.

See also: Indian National Congress

Originally published on 12 March 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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