Buoyed by the close finish with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bastion Gujarat, Congress president Rahul Gandhi in now eyeing a better performance in the general elections and poll-bound Karnataka under Mission 2019.

Come February 10, Rahul will not only launch a campaign for Karnataka, but also do a soft launch of the party's Mission 2019.

Armed with presentations and proposals, who's who of the Congress can often be seen heading to Rahul's Tughlak Lane residence, where the Gandhi scion is busy strategising the future course of action.

Rahul and other party stalwarts have zeroed in on few key areas-preparing lists of probable Lok Sabha candidates, focus on urban voters, setting up of block- and booth-level structures, communication department teams and focus on local issues which can be used later on during campaigns.

Rahul is not just brainstorming the strategy with senior leaders but even instructing state unit heads.

Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee president Bharatsinh Madhavsinh Solanki told India Today, "We met Rahul Gandhi in connection with the 2019 elections. Our priority is now to prepare list of candidates who can be fielded in the elections."

Punjab Chief Minister and state Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh, who also met Rahul, refused to give details of the party's strategy.

"We had a long chat with Rahul Gandhi about Mission 2019. I cannot provide much details, but to begin with, we'll work on strengthening the organisation in the state," he said.

Another Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Sunil Kumar Jakhar was bit open when asked about the instructions issued by Rahul.

"We have already started working on booth management. Rahul Gandhi also asked us to make the electorate aware of what the state government is doing for its betterment and the party's future plans," he said.

In Jharkhand, the Congress is working on removing any shortcoming at the grass-root level immediately though the state will go to polls in 2019.

Jharkhand Congress general secretary RPN Singh said, "We have appointed five zonal coordinators who have been instructed to make block- and booth-level structures functional in next two months."

Many senior Congress leaders agree that the Gujarat campaign, which was a massive hit, should be replicated in other states.

For example, Rahul will hop the bus along with other senior party leaders and crisscross Karnataka in the hustings.

State unit leaders have also been asked to work upon increasing the vote share. Senior Congress leader and former MLA from Gujarat Siddharth Patel, who also met Rahul, said, "Our Navsarjan Yatra campaign in Gujarat was a huge hit, but we are not satisfied with the increase of votes."

"Despite our robust campaign, which was much better than that of the BJP's, we lost. So, we will now work on increasing our vote share," he said.

Despite the successful campaign yielding results in rural Gujarat, the Congress could not tap the urban youth in the state.

Therefore, state units have been asked to reach out to urban voters this time. "We will raise issues related to the middle class and urban population. We will now focus more on urban areas," Solanki said.

The Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) has already rolled out a plan to reach out to urban voters on the basis of their job profiles.

DPCC president Ajay Maken told India Today, "We have already set up committees based on professions of urban voters. Our local units are reaching out to them as part of organisation-strengthening process."

The Congress is also working on strengthening its communication departments.

AICC Communication Department convener Priyanka Chaturvedi said, "After receiving Rahul Gandhi's instructions, we have started strengthening our departments across the country. We are roping in youngsters for our communication teams and focussing on local issue-based campaigns which can be later used at the national level."

As part of the strategy to reach out to voters, Rahul will hold a 'Janata Durbar' at the Congress headquarters in Delhi every Saturday.

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