Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi will resume his interaction with the media in the coming days. This will be the first sign of the party trying to reconnect itself with the people after the crushing defeat in the Lok Sabha elections held in April-May 2014.
“Rahul Gandhi is meeting the party leaders, officials and getting feedback from them of what exactly went against the Congress in this electoral battle. Now, he will also meet mediapersons in groups, the practice he had started before the polls,” said an AICC official close to him here on Thursday.
The young Gandhi, who has refused to become the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, has been under attack by the Opposition and his critics in the party, who are holding him responsible for the crushing defeat in the general elections.
While a section in the party believes that Mrs Sonia Gandhi alone would revive the Congress after the humiliating defeat which saw the party drew blank in over a dozen states and remained a marginal player in the key states in north, south and west.
Mr Rahul Gandhi’s confidante in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana PCC chiefs too failed completely in the election.
Asked whether Mr Gandhi would undertake a tour across the country in a bid to boost the morale of the party, a Gandhi-Nehru family loyalist said, “He and Soniaji may go after the rainy season and the Assembly polls in Maharashtra and Haryana.”
The Congress managers are optimist that the BJP’s “acche din aanewale hain (better time ahead)” will help in the Congress’ revival if the Narendra Modi government fails to check inflation and generate jobs. “We would simply ask people, are they feeling good days,” they said.