In order to improve the confidence in the reserved segment, Congress would identify 1,000 committed leaders of all castes from the grassroots, build an organisation with booth-level voter mapping and focus on opinion makers.
Congress is targeting 145 reserved seats for the upcoming 2018 assembly elections. They said that they have learned from the recent elections that in reserved constituencies the party can become strong and perform well only if leaders from all castes throw their weight behind the official candidate. So we have decided to expand the scope of the Leadership Development Mission and choose leaders from all castes and not just Dalit leaders. To begin with, the party has started choosing Dalit leaders from the grassroots level.
The party has expanded the scope and decided that it needs the support of all castes to make any dent in the SC-dominated assembly segments.
Though non-Dalits would not get a ticket still some responsibilities can be given to them within the constituency or at the state unit level. It depends on how well the individual performs.
Congress holds 36 seats currently.