The top leadership of the Congress in Kerala and its elected representatives are meeting at Sulthan Bathery in Wayanad on Sunday for a two-day camp to chalk out an action plan for the upcoming Assembly polls in the State.
According to party sources, this is the third time such a brainstorming session is being held at the same private resort in the hill district in the past two-and-a-half years. The party had held similar camps there in 2023 and 2024 to formulate the strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and the 2025 local body elections respectively. The party considers it as a “lucky venue” as the action plans conceived there and implemented throughout the State later had brought it rich electoral dividends. Around 200 delegates, including Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) functionaries, district Congress committee leaders, members of the core committee and political affairs committee, MPs and MLAs, are expected to attend the meeting.
Poll campaign
One of the KPCC general secretaries told The Hindu on Saturday that the discussions would mainly revolve around the issues to be highlighted during the election campaign. In view of the Left Democratic Front government’s (LDF) plan to seek a third term for Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, the Congress would develop a narrative to counter it. “The specific issues to be taken up at the district, block, and mandalam levels would be discussed. How to ensure the transfer of votes from our United Democratic Front (UDF) allies to the Congress candidates would be another focus area. A working calendar of sorts would be formed to implement the decisions taken at the camp,” he added.
K.C. Venugopal, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary, would open the camp in the morning. AICC general secretary Deepa Dansmunshi, Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan, KPCC president Sunny Joseph, senior leader Ramesh Chennithala, among others, would be present.
Key issues
The sources said that organisational preparations required for a successful election campaign, and the changes required in the party apparatus would be discussed during the two days. The challenges the party is facing in various areas and the factors in favour of it too would be examined. Price rise, Sabarimala gold theft case, and a perceived administrative paralysis in the State are likely to be some of the key campaign issues.
The Congress had been able to finalise candidates for the local body polls in most places much before the declaration of the poll schedule. The leaders believe that this strategy turned out to be beneficial for the party. The plan is to kickstart seat-sharing talks with the UDF allies and finalise a majority of the candidates for the Assembly polls by January-end itself. “Going by our success in the local body polls, the UDF stands a chance to win at least 110 seats. A strong anti-incumbency feeling is palpable against the State government. There are also a number of other factors which can be used against it,” the KPCC leader added.
Published – January 03, 2026 07:17 pm IST
