Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 16: Even as the former Congress president Sonia Gandhi pitched for unity of the 28 parties in the opposition INDIA bloc and fight the coming elections unitedly with its alliance partners, the party was embarrassed at the high voltage praise of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi by its senior leader and deputy chief minister in Chhattisgarh TS Singh Deo.
Sharing the dais with Mr Modi at a function during the Prime Minister’s visit to the election-bound Congress-ruled state earlier this week to lay the foundation stone of “critical care blocks” in nine districts, Singh Deo while welcoming Modi paid compliments to the central government for providing necessary financial assistance to the states.
His stand was contrary to the complaints most of the non-BJP states make against the Centre. Mr Deo in his address said, “You came here to give something. You have given a lot of things to Chhattisgarh, and I trust that in future also you will keep providing us with more.” The Congress leader thanked PM Modi for all the projects he announced.
“We have worked under the guidance of the centre and I do not want to miss out on saying that, in my experience, I did not feel any partiality. In the state, when we asked for something from the centre, they never denied aid. I believe the state and centre will work together to take the country and state forward,” Mr Deo said.
Mr Deo was known for his criticism of the chief minister Bhupesh Baghel and had demanded the party high command to change the state leadership and replace Baghel with him. But the high command instead claimed to have recently sorted out the differences between the top leaders. However, Mr Deo’s praise of Modi going against the party’s stand is now being viewed with intrigue with questions asked about his future course of action before the Chhattisgarh Assembly elections.
The senior Congress leader and former Union minister P Chidambaram said a suggestion for the Bharat Jodo Yartra – Part Two from East to West was under consideration of the CWC. “There have been requests by members of the CWC that we should have a Bharat Jodo Yatra 2 from the east to the west. That matter is under consideration,” Chidambaram told the media at the first meeting of the reconstituted CWC in Hyderabad.
Sonia Gandhi and the party president Mallikarjun Kharge addressed the inaugural meeting of the two-day Congress Working Committee session which began in Hyderabad on Saturday. Sonia Gandhi said the Congress would have to fight unitedly with INDIA alliance partners against the BJP.
Her remarks came days after the third meeting of the alliance in Mumbai and the first meeting of its Coordination Committee at the residence of NCP chief Sharad Pawar in Delhi this week. They assume importance because of reports that the bloc, while largely successful in figuring out seat-sharing arrangements in some states, is expected to have a tough time in others, especially West Bengal, Delhi and Punjab.
After the meeting in Mumbai, the parties in the INDIA alliance had also said that they would contest the 2024 Lok Sabha election “together as far as possible”. The inclusion of the phrase in their resolution had raised eyebrows and lent credence to speculation that the parties were also seeing a rocky road ahead when it came to working out the seat-sharing arrangements in some states.
In his opening remarks at the CWC meeting – the first since he took over as the Congress president last year – Kharge launched an all-out attack on the BJP and the Centre and said it had been a “complete failure on all important fronts”. Mr Kharge alleged that the Modi government has not been able to control inflation, unemployment, widening inequality or the deteriorating condition of farmers and labourers.
He said every time the Congress and other opposition parties raised the issues of the problems facing the people of the country, the Modi government had only indulged in coining new slogans to divert people’s attention from the burning issues. “Only sloganeering by the government and inaction on the ground will not take the country on the path of progress,” he pointed out.
Stating that India is at a crossroads and is facing many internal challenges, Mr Kharge said the whole country was witnessing the tragic events that are still unfolding in Manipur. “The Modi government allowed the fire of Manipur to reach Nuh in Haryana. These incidents tarnish the image of a modern, progressive, and secular India,” the Congress chief said.
Mr Kharge said the economy was in “grave danger” and rising prices have adversely affected the lives of the common man. He also added that the Centre’s alleged negligence on China’s encroachments poses a critical danger to the country’s security, but the government has a tendency to distract from real issues with “empty slogans” like ‘Amritkaal’ and ‘Third-Largest Economy.
On the INDIA alliance, the Congress chief said, “After three successful meetings, the INDIA alliance is forging ahead to combat the anti-people and anti-democratic BJP government. Perturbed by this development, the BJP government is resorting to vindictive action against Opposition parties. We also strongly condemn the government’s attempts to stifle opposition in the parliament and curtail public scrutiny in parliament.”
The CWC meeting was held in Hyderabad, which is being seen as a message to the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi in Telangana that the Congress party will be making all efforts to win the state in the upcoming Assembly elections.
The committee also deliberated on the preparations for the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and the Lok Sabha polls next year. Shashi Tharoor, Sachin Pilot and Gaurav Gogoi are among the panel’s new members.
Giving details of the CWC discussions, Chidambaram said, “The CWC is deliberating on a draft resolution. The deliberations are still underway…We are discussing the situation in the country. Broadly, it can be divided into the political situation, the economic crisis that the country faces and the security threats both internal and external that are a great challenge to the country…”
“On the political situation, we believe that there is a challenge to the Constitutional and federal structure of the country. Federalism is being systematically weakened, state governments have been hampered, revenues to state governments have been denied or reduced and obstacles are placed in the way of state governments discharging their responsibilities,” the Congress leader said.
Speaking on the ‘One Nation, One Election’ move by the Centre, Chidambaram said it is an assault on the Constitution. “We reject it. It is an attack on federalism. It will require at least five Constitutional amendments. The BJP knows that it does not have the numbers to pass these Constitutional amendments. Yet if it puts forward this mirage of One Nation, One Election, it is only to divert attention from the pressing issues and to create a false narrative…”
Chidambaram also said there was no discussion on the Sanatana Dharma row at the CWC meeting. “The Congress is not willing to be drawn into any controversy on the Sanatana Dharma. We have maintained equal respect for all religions,” he said at the press briefing.
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