The Congress on Sunday said the party’s top leaders would deliberate and give direction on ways to strengthen opposition unity during the three-day plenary session to be held in Raipur from February 24, without which any such attempt would be futile. Congress general secretary organization KC Venugopal said the party’s steering committee will meet on the first day of the session and decide whether elections will be held for the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the top decision-making body of the party.
He said the Congress knows its role in bringing together various opposition parties to oust the BJP from power and form an alliance ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Congress has already taken the initiative and is in touch with various political parties. A clear initiative has been taken by the Congress to bring the opposition parties together and we will definitely bring them together against the BJP in the 2024 elections, Venugopal said at a press conference here.
“The direction of opposition unity will come from the plenary session of the party, where the issue will be discussed,” he said. He said that its main task is to defeat the BJP in 2024.
Venugopal said that this plenary is clearly a reflection of the spirit imparted by the Bharat Jodo Yatra and the extension of the Udaipur Chintan Shivir.
Congress general secretary communications Jairam Ramesh said the party believes that opposition unity is important and the issue will be discussed in the plenary session.
“No one needs to give us the certificate that we have to lead because without Congress any opposition unity will fail. So, we welcome Nitish Kumar’s statement, and as Venugopal ji has said it will be discussed in the plenary session and whatever we have to do for the 2024 elections will be discussed.” Congress should take the initiative to bring opposition unity.
But before that there are many assembly elections. But strong opposition unity is impossible without a strong Congress.
The Congress welcomes the statement made by Chief Minister Kumar and “he has accepted that the Bharat Jodo Yatra has had an impact not only on the Congress but also on Indian politics”, he said.
Ramesh said, “This is a transformative moment for Indian politics, he acknowledged.”
We welcome it and we know our role very well. Congress is the only political party which has never compromised with BJP anywhere. There are some opposition parties who come for (Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha) Mallikarjun Kharge’s meetings but their actions are in favor of the ruling party. We are not double faced in relation to BJP.
Ramesh said that the Congress opposes the BJP and wants an inquiry into the Adani case by a Joint Parliamentary Committee.
He said there would be discussions on whether there would be a pre-poll alliance or other such modus operandi, and pointed out that the Congress was in alliance with several parties in various states.
Venugopal said the agenda of the party’s three-day 85th plenary session, to be held from February 24 to February 26, would be finalized in the steering committee meeting on the first day and then the subject committee would finalize it.
Around 15,000 delegates will attend the plenary session and deliberate on a wide range of issues including political, social, economic and youth related issues.
Giving a break-up of the delegates, he said the total is 1,338. India Congressional Committee delegates and 487 co-opted delegates, totaling 1,825 delegates. Besides this, a total of 9,915 Pradesh Congress Committee representatives will attend the session.
Party treasurer Pawan Kumar Bansal said that the session will end with a public meeting in Raipur, which will be addressed by top leaders.
Kumari Selja, who is the AICC general secretary in-charge for Chhattisgarh, said that out of the total AICC delegates, 235 are women and 501 are below the age of 50. Apart from this, there will be 704 from General Category, 228 from Minorities, 381 from Other Backward Classes, 192 from Scheduled Castes and 133 from Scheduled Tribes among others.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)