Congress To Kickstart Campaign For Lok Sabha Polls Next Week

The Congress is all set to launch its campaign for the Lok Sabha polls next week, aiming to cater to different age groups, said party sources on Friday. According to the sources, the party has hired two large companies for publicity materials and hoardings.

For the first time, the party will do new experiments in its media strategy. In response to the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) centralised media campaigns, the party Congress will launch localised campaigns at micro levels, said the sources.

Sources have stated that the Congress will also put up hoardings promising legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP) for farmers. Earlier, during the farmers' 'Delhi Chalo' March, the party had announced to provide legal guarantee of MSP for farmers, if voted to power.

With its special focus on farmers and youth, the grand old party will prepare its manifesto. As per the sources, the manifesto is being prepared in line with Rahul Gandhi's slogan of 'Jitni Abadi, utna haq'.

The Congress has promised to conduct a nationwide caste census if voted to power, claiming that it would be conducive to policy-making for people belonging to different communities on the basis of their population.

The meeting of the party's manifesto committee will be held on March 4, said the sources.

In order to provide momentum to the election campaign, the Congress has appointed one lakh Booth Level Agents (BLA).

The Lok Sabha polls are likely to be held in April-May this year.

The political landscape of the country is undergoing a significant change given that the INDIA bloc, which is an alliance of 28 political parties formed to take on the BJP in the coming polls, is set to oppose the ruling party. The mega alliance is yet to announce its Prime Ministerial candidate.

Earlier in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) bagged 303 seats, while the Congress and its allies gained 52 seats.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)