PANAJI
Admitting that the BJP had achieved mastery over exploiting emotive issues, former Union Minister of Human Resource Development M M Pallam Raju on Wednesday said that the Congress should go one up on the 'masters' and capitalise on similar emotive local issues ahead of the 2022 assembly polls.
Raju also said that Congress should reach out to all hands available, even sulking party leaders and former MLAs to bring all hands to the pump, in order to help the party win the upcoming assembly polls.
"It is important to formulate a good strategy for polls. There are several failures of the central government and there are several emotive issues I understand, as far as the local government is concerned. So how do we capitalise on them? The thinking has to start now," Raju said at an interactive function in Panaji.
"What subjects we give to the public is very important. Because emotions play a role in tilting the balance and that is a game that the BJP has mastered. Now we have to counter that with an effective counter-strategy," the senior Congress leader also said.
Raju is in Goa as part of the All India Congress Committee's strategy to lobby against the central government's National Monetisation Pipeline and economic failures of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.
Raju also suggested that there was a need to swallow pride and reach out to all hands possible, who can help the party to defeat the BJP.
"We need to build up our team. Let us not neglect anybody. Whoever is sulking, former MLAs, former leaders, who are sulking, keeping a distance, let us go and approach them. (After meeting) two times, three times, they will soften and come. We need every hand," Raju said.
