Congress To Kick In Election Mode Immediately, Candidates To Be Decided Soon: KC Venugopal

New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday asserted that it would be in election mode without any delay and candidates for the Lok Sabha polls would be decided soon with the constitution of the screening committee this month.

The assertion was made by Congress general secretary, organisation, K C Venugopal after a four-hour Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting here at the AICC headquarters.

He also said CWC members also requested Rahul Gandhi to undertake a Bharat Jodo Yatra 2.0 and a decision in this regard would be taken soon.

Venugopal also said the manifesto committee for the Lok Sabha polls would be announced in a day or two.

The meeting of the Congress’ highest decision-making body was attended by party president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi and senior leader Rahul Gandhi among others.

In the meeting the party’s top brass also discussed its dismal performance in assembly election in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. It lost the polls in these states to the BJP.

The assembly election results were discussed at the CWC meet and the in-charges of Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh explained the performance, Venugopal said.

In its resolution, the CWC said it condemns in the strongest possible terms the suspension of INDIA bloc MPs from Parliament.

The MPs were suspended to ensure that the opposition was not present to challenge the Narendra Modi government as three “draconian” criminal justice laws were passed by Parliament, it said.

On the Lok Sabha polls and preparations for it, the CWC said it calls upon all organisation members to stand united with hope and immerse themselves with dedication and discipline in poll campaign.

The Congress expresses its firmest resolve to be fully prepared at the earliest to fight the polls both as a party and as INDIA bloc member, the resolution said.

Democracy itself is under assault and all freedoms guaranteed to citizens in the Constitution are under attack, the CWC said in its resolution.

The committee asserted that the Congress is determined to take all steps to make the INDIA bloc an effective bulwark against the BJP and its allies.

(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)