Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge took an indirect jibe towards his rival candidate Shashi Tharoor while visiting Assam to campaign for the upcoming Congress presidential election….reports Asian Lite News
Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who is the key contestant for the post of the party President, on Monday promised that he will give more stress on “collective decisions” in the party if he is elected for that chair.
“This is an internal election. Any decision will be taken through internal and mutual discussions. Not ‘me’ but ‘we’ will together take the decisions,” Kharge said while addressing a press meet as he visited Kolkata for campaigning.
He also promised a 50 per cent reservation in the party portfolios for women, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes. He also proposed that no one will be able to stick to a particular chair for a period more than five years.
“We all wanted Rahul Gandhi to be unanimously elected as the Congress President. We also conveyed this to our leader, Sonia Gandhi. But she said that none from the Gandhi family will contest in the polls. I am contesting this election to uphold the great legacy of Congress’s ideology as well as to establish democracy in the entire country. I am contesting this election following the instructions of the leadership of my party,” Kharge said.
Meanwhile, the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) is yet to make any formal announcement on whether their support will be extended towards Kharge or the other contestant for the chair, Shashi Tharoor. According to state Congress President and veteran party Lok Sabha member, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the state Congress unit wanted Rahul Gandhi to be party’s national President.
“But that is not happening. We, on behalf of WBPCC, have welcomed Mallikarjun Kharge. Similarly, we will also welcome Shashi Tharoor who is coming to the state soon. However, we are yet to take any decision,” he said.
Takes a jibe at Tharoor
Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday took an indirect jibe towards his rival candidate Shashi Tharoor while visiting Assam to campaign for the upcoming Congress presidential election.
“Some people have been roaming with their own manifesto, but, why should I have it? In the Udaipur Chintan Shivir, a detailed roadmap for the party was prepared by the various internal committees. I have those declarations with me and once I sit in the Congress president’s chair, I will implement these one by one.”
“Decisions taken at Udaipur have declarations for all wings of Congress party like Youth Congress, Mahila Congress, etc. I will try to materialise those declarations taken by the leaders of our party,” he said.
Stressing on his credentials for the Congress President’s post, Kharge said that he has more than 50 years of experience working from the block level to a Congress Working Committee member to end as the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.
The veteran Congress leader also launched a sharp attack on BJP saying that the ruling party is doing a ‘Bharat Todo’ exercise in the country.
Citing his reason to contesting for the top party post, Kharge said that interim party chief Sonia Gandhi clearly declared that nobody from Gandhi family will compete for the post and party delegates will decide the next Congress President. She will not interfere in the whole process.
“Then our senior leaders and party workers reached out to me with a request to fight for the post because the BJP has been continuously instigating fights between communities, religion, etc. The democratic institutions are facing a threat from the ruling party and they have been undermining the country’s constitution too,” he said.
The senior Congress leader alleged that BJP has been trying to break the Congress in almost every state.
“They broke our government in at least 6-7 states like Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, Arunachal, etc. In Gujarat, we had given them a strong fight in the last Assembly election, but there also, the BJP tried to do the same thing.”
“When a party MLA or MP does not fall into their trap, BJP uses the ED, or the CBI against them or lure opposition leaders by promising to give some big responsibilities. This is a total insult to democracy. (Pandit Jawaharlal) Nehru ji was Prime Minister for such a long time but he never did such malicious things, instead, he used to show respect for opposition party leaders,” Kharge told reporters.
The Congress presidential candidate also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his desperation to campaign for the party.
“If Prime Minister has charisma, why he had to go for the campaign even in the corporation elections,” he questioned.