Unable to put the brakes on the downward slide in the electoral prospects of the Congress, vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday asked AICC general secretaries, heads of the party’s frontal organisations and those in-charge of the States to engage with workers and sympathisers to hear from the grassroots what ails the Grand Old Party.

Contending that it is the people at the grassroots who have an ear to the ground, Mr. Gandhi is evidently of the view that the top-down approach will not work at a time when people have become more assertive and “aspirational.”

Essentially, Mr. Gandhi — who has been criticised both within and outside the party for the current state of the Congress — wants all office-bearers to replicate his efforts of the past two months in which he has been engaging with small groups to find out the reasons for the party’s downward slide and measures needed to stop it.

Briefing mediapersons of the meeting, Congress spokesman Shakeel Ahmed said all officer-bearers were asked to collect inputs on how to communicate the Congress party’s core values and strengthen the organisational structure.