Congress is in no mood to let the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) set the ‘divisive’ narrative in Telangana and will focus on its developmental plank just as it did in Karnataka, the All India Congress Committee media chief Pawan Khera said.
He said the governments should respond to people’s aspirations and not play on religious sentiments, and people of Karnataka had shown it that only development mattered. The Congress would set the positive agenda and diffuse the BJP’s tired divisive narrative.
In an interaction with reporters here, he said the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) would come out with its manifesto according to the needs of locals here and not necessarily similar to the one in Karnataka. It was their choice and there would be no imposition from the Central office, he said in response to a question on implementing the Old Pension Scheme (OPS). “Congress has done it in Himachal Pradesh at its very first Cabinet meeting.”
Exuding confidence that the Congress would be in first place in Telangana, he said BRS and BJP would have to fight for second place. The confidence stemmed from the promises being made to people through various declarations like the Farmers declaration and the Youth Declaration.
Whether the Congress would ban organisations like Bajrangdal in Telangana as well, he said the Karnataka Congress manifesto was very clear that those causing trouble with hate speeches would be dealt with strongly, and they included Bajrangdal and PFI. The spirit had to be understood rather than politically using such emotive issues.
Dismissing the ongoing tussle for the Chief Minister’s post in Karnataka as a healthy competition between party leaders, he said ultimately the elected MLAs and the party leadership would decide who would head the government. Every state unit of the Congress had several leaders of calibre and that was a good sign, he said.
Priyanka’s role
Mr Khera said there was a huge demand from all the states for Priyanka Gandhi’s campaign but it was better for her to decide her priorities and choose where she wanted to concentrate more. Ms. Gandhi’s meeting in Hyderabad was a huge success and Telangana Congress leaders want her to be more active here.
