A meeting of the newly constituted Congress Working Committee (CWC) and a public rally in Hyderabad, meeting of floor leaders of INDIA bloc at party chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s official residence in Delhi and a meeting by the parliamentary strategy group to be chaired by Sonia Gandhi ahead of the five-day long special session of Parliament, the Congress on Monday made a series of political announcements, even as it categorically rejected the idea of “one nation one election”.
Addressing a joint press conference with communication chief Jairam Ramesh, party general secretary-organisation (GSO) K.C. Venugopal, however, said the party was ready for early election.
“We are prepared for anything. If they want an early election means they have totally panicked. After INDIA alliance formation and our three meetings, they have totally panicked,” Mr. Venugopal said.
Asked about the party’s future roadmap with regard to its opposition to simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha, Assemblies and local bodies, he said the party would have a joint strategy with partners of the INDIA bloc.
‘One nation, one election’
Mr. Ramesh said ‘one nation, one election’ was impossible without amending the Constitution, and to do so, there had to be consensus.
“In 2017, there was a paper of the NITI Ayog, the topic had been discussed extensively in a paper and it mentions what amendments are to to be done. But if you see the terms of reference of the latest committee, they [Narendra Modi government] seem to have decided to conduct ‘one nation one election, ’ ” he alleged.
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The party’s first announcement was about holding the first meeting of the newly formed CWC in Hyderabad on September 16 and an extended CWC meeting a day later, in which Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chiefs, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leaders and office-bearers of Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) parliamentary party will participate.
Telangana election
With a clear focus on the upcoming Telangana election, the top leadership will launch five guarantees for the State at a public rally in Hyderabad on September 17.
“After the public meeting, the Congress president will flag off the cavalcade of CWC members, PCC presidents and CLP leaders who will go to each of the 119 Assembly constituencies and spend the night,” Mr. Venugopal said.
“While MPs will be exempted because of Parliament session on September 18, other leaders will take our guarantee programme door to door, have lunch with influencers and have a ‘Bharat Jodo padayatra’ in the evening in every constituency,” he added.
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The Congress GSO also informed that on Tuesday the party’s parliamentary strategy group would meet at Ms. Gandhi’s official residence at 5 p.m. and this would be followed by a meeting of floor leaders of like-minded parties at Mr. Kharge’s residence at 8 p.m.
“As far as issues to be raised in the special Parliament, we are meeting tomorrow and will decide. But it will all be current issues,” he said when asked if the latest charges against the Adani group would be raised in the five-day session.
As reported by The Hindu earlier, he also announced a symbolic yatra across 722 districts of the country to commemorate the first anniversary of ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ (BJY) on September 7.
“The BJY was one of the reasons why we won big in Karnataka and it is also the reason for the political atmosphere changing in the country,” Mr. Venugopal said. When asked if the second edition of the BJY on the East-West corridor would be launched on October 2, he said, “Please wait and see what happens”.
