Congress's One-Family-One-Ticket Rule Makes A Comeback With A Catch

The One-Family-One-Ticket rule may resurface as a point of discussion at the Congress's brainstorming session in Rajasthan's Udaipur - with one key rider - as the party meets over the weekend to hammer out strategies to revive its electoral fortunes, sources have told NDTV.

The controversial rule was among the proposals discussed at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting led by chief Sonia Gandhi in Delhi on Monday, ahead of the three-day 'Chintan Shivir' starting Friday, a party leader said.

If cleared at the mega gathering and by another CWC meeting on Sunday, however, it may not apply to the Gandhis, they said, potentially blighting hopes of fending off the BJP's attacks that flay the Congress for going family-first.

The party may also usher a revival of the parliamentary board for collective decision-making, a leader said, as well as call for an alignment of all opposition parties to take on the BJP in the 2024 elections and counter "the politics of hatred".

The Congress will also strive to focus on unemployment and the rising cost-of-living crisis and not allow divisive and communal campaigns to take over as observed in the past few elections, they said.

A separate election wing for managing and coordinating election campaigns, headed by a general secretary, will also be considered along with a training institute for party leaders and workers.

The meeting will deliberate on drawing in more young leaders below 50 years of age with at least half of internal positions reserved for them.

According to party leaders, these proposals were left open-ended and will be discussed further at the brainstorming session at Udaipur.

Sonia Gandhi will be addressing and setting the tone for the group discussions on all these proposals, they said.

The 'Chintan Shivir' will see group discussions and the participation of more than 400 leaders who will deliberate on various strategy papers and suggestions.

Once they go through the various groups, the Congress Working Committee will discuss and clear the resolutions and prepare the Udaipur Declaration, party sources said.

Some of the proposals are not new. The One-Family-One-Ticket rule was introduced in Karnataka in 2008 and had a hugely negative impact, Congress insiders said.

"The CWC yesterday did not want to prejudge the suggestions and wanted a final shape to be concluded in Udaipur," a party leader said.