Webpage to seek suggestions on manifesto; Chidambaram to head panel to put together document

A dedicated webpage seeking suggestions on the Congress manifesto, feedback on “real-time” issues affecting the people, extensive stakeholder consultations, small groups of party leaders travelling throughout the country to interact with politically neutral common people — these are some of the points that emerged from a series of meetings that Congress president Rahul Gandhi chaired on Saturday to discuss strategy for the Lok Sabha election in 2019.

Mr. Gandhi appointed P. Chidambaram chairman of the party’s manifesto committee, A.K. Antony chairman of the coordination committee and Anand Sharma chairman of the publicity committee.

According to sources, Rajeev Gowda has been appointed convener of the manifesto committee, Jairam Ramesh convener of the coordination committee and Pawan Khera convener of the Publicity Committee.

Some of the leaders who attended these meetings told The Hindu that Mr. Gandhi made it clear that “party leaders should not assume what people expect or want from the Congress, and urged them to devise their campaign strategy based on ground visits, backed by data and hard facts”.

Sources said the party would identify key issues affecting specific groups such as youth, women, farmers, tribal people and Dalits and how Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government betrayed the promises it made to them in the 2014 elections.

“We will highlight the abysmal performance of this government for sure and reflect the people’s concerns. But we will also be conveying through our narrative an alternative vision — what the people can expect from the Congress when we come to power,” said a leader who attended one of the meetings that Mr. Gandhi chaired.

Sources said the Congress would seek to build Mr. Gandhi’s profile through some careful messaging on different political, economic and social issues targeting specific demographic groups.

The party is already building on Mr. Gandhi’s vastly improved social media presence, especially his following on Twitter that has now reached 7.5 million.

In the meeting on campaign and publicity, sources said, party leaders even debated about whether or not the party should continue to boycott some TV channels believed to be close to the Modi government and adversarial to the Congress or try to engage with these channels.