REBIRTH PANGS

THE CONGRESS RALLIES A FIGHTING FORCE AGAINST ITS MAIN RIVAL BRS WITH A CONSTITUENCY-WISE CAMPAIGN STRATEGY

- Amarnath K. Menon

It's one thing to generate expectations of a revival after a long drought. And quite another to actually navigate such an operation from scratch-which needs much more than merely relying on the inertia of motion. That too through a battlefield marked by a dynamic flux. On October 27, when the Congress released its second list of 45 candidates for Telangana's November 30 assembly poll, taking the total to 100 out of 119 names, it gave clues to its blueprint for battle. In a departure from its norm, the Congress was priming for a constituency-by-constituency contest.

In the past, the Grand Old Party has often been able to ride its own elephant, so to speak. As a behemothlike party with a captive vote, it had the space to be held hostage to the demands of community cohorts. With no such luxury available in a fractured polity, rather than giving in to that, it has stressed winnability as the most crucial factor in distributing tickets this time. This shift in strategy has not been without its challenges, leading to discord, with some former ministers and others defecting to the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS). But it's a gamble worth making, given the stakes.