CWC meeting: The stage is all set for the first meeting of the reconstituted Congress Working Committee (CWC) beginning in Hyderabad today (September 16) as the highest decision-making body of the party will discuss and formulate a strategy for upcoming Assembly elections in five states and the Lok Sabha polls 2024.
The crucial meeting will take stock of preparations for the upcoming Assembly polls in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Mizoram. The meeting of CWC members to be presided over by party President Mallikarjun Kharge will begin at around 2:30 pm.
Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi left from 10, Janpath (Sonia Gandhi’s residence) for Hyderabad to attend the CWC meeting.
The meeting will also be held to send out a message that the party would go all-out to dislodge the BRS government in Telangana. The brainstorming of the Congress top brass during the meeting would prove to be a game changer and a transformative moment for Telangana politics and the grand old party.
Announcing the plans for the meeting of the CWC to be chaired by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, general secretaries KC Venugopal and Jairam Ramesh said this is for the first time in many years that the top decision-making body of the Congress will hold deliberations for three days outside Delhi.
3-day meeting in Hyderabad:
Venugopal announced that the CWC will meet on Saturday and will deliberate on the strategy for the upcoming assembly elections and Lok Sabha polls. He expressed confidence that the Congress would form government in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram that go to polls later this year.
Venugopal said that on Sunday there will be a meeting of the extended Congress Working Committee (CWC) where all state party chiefs and CLP leaders, besides Parliamentary Party office bearers, Central Election Committee members are invited to strategise on upcoming elections.
“We invited 159 people, out of them 147 people are attending that meeting on Sunday,” he noted.
At the meeting there could also be a discussion on the feasibility of holding Bharat Jodo Yatra 2.
Telangana National Integration Day celebration on Sept 17:
On the evening of September 17, which is celebrated as Telangana National Integration Day, the party will hold a mega rally near Hyderabad, where it will announce six guarantees for the Telangana assembly election, he said.
The holding of the CWC meeting in Telangana’s capital is as an attempt to boost the party’s campaign in the poll-bound state and send out a clear message that it would go all-out to oust the BRS government in the assembly elections.
“Tomorrow at 2:30 pm, we will hold the first CWC meeting. Congress President will be present. Former Congress Presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and all other Working Committee Members including permanent invitees and special invitees will participate. We have invited 90 people, but six of them have informed us about their inability due to personal difficulties to attend. All other 84 people will attend, including our four chief ministers,” Venugopal said.
The meeting also comes at a time when there is a raging row over the Sanatan Dharma remarks by DMK leaders and after over two dozen opposition parties have formed the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A) to challenge the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) unitedly in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Venugopal said that on Sunday evening there will be “Vijay Bheri” of Telangana Congress and of Indian National Congress as it will herald the formation of its government here.
Event to take place on Sept 28:
He said on September 18, the party’s members of Parliament will be back to attend the Parliament session. Ramesh said the meeting is being held for the first time outside Delhi in many years with upcoming polls in mind.
He said this will add renewed vigour in the party’s rank and file in Telangana which got a fillip after the Bharat Jodo Yatra and claimed that this will bear good results for the party in upcoming polls by electing its government.
“We will announce six guarantees for the people of Telangana. We hope that when the elections come, the party will get a clear mandate from the people,” Ramesh said, referring to the mega rally that will be held on Sunday evening.
Training his guns on the BRS government led by K Chandrasekhar Rao, he said, “Understand one thing that the Modi government and the KCR government are two sides of the same coin. There is no difference between them, in Delhi there is Narendra Modi and in Hyderabad there is KCR.”.
He referred to renowned artist Gaddar, saying when asked five years ago as to what is happening in Telangana, the poet and singer responded, “1 cr, 2 cr, 3 cr, Telangana mein KCR.”
“This is the story of Telangana. After this working committee, the vigour that was infused in our organization after the Bharat Jodo Yatra, will return and you will see that at the time of polls, the people will give a clear mandate to the Congress,” Ramesh asserted.
He termed the CWC meeting as historic that will be transformative for Telangana politics. Ramesh hit out at BRS leader and KCR’s daughter K Kavitha for criticizing Rahul Gandhi, saying she should not worry about the former Congress chief but about the Enforcement Directorate.
Claiming that it was the Congress that created the state of Telangana, Venugopal said, “We promised Telangana and we delivered, but unfortunately after delivering Telangana you know how this BRS is ruling the state and this entire Telangana government has become the most corrupt state in the country.”
Noting that its principal enemy in politics is the BJP and their ideology, he said, “we are fighting tooth and nail but when the farm bills came, you saw the role of KCR’s party and they supported farm laws, whenever such anti democratic laws come in Parliament they support it.”
Ahead of key deliberations, Congress leader Sachin Pilot said the Hyderabad meeting of the party’s CWC is crucial in view of upcoming state polls.
“I look forward to these meetings in Hyderabad. The working committee will work with renewed vigour and energy and this augurs very well for the Congress’ future,” Pilot said.
Kharge had on August 20 reconstituted the CWC, retaining the old guard, giving space to the young in the 84-member top decision-making body of the party. The CWC has 39 regular members, 32 permanent invitees and 13 special invitees. These include 15 women and several new faces such as Pilot and Gaurav Gogoi who are among the regular members.
(With agencies inputs)
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