New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday said it will take a call on whether to go in for pre-poll or post-poll alliance for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections at the Plenary Session to be held from February 24 to 26 at Raipur.
“There is a clear initiative from the Congress. We are ready to play that role in a bigger way. We will deliberate the issue at the plenary session and the conclave will reflect that. The party has already welcomed the suggestion of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on leading the opposition. Our job is to lessen the number of BJP’s Lok Sabha seats,” AICC general secretary in charge of the organization KC Venugopal said.
According to the AICC general secretary in charge of communication Jairam Ramesh, “No opposition unity is possible without a strong Congress. But it has to be decided whether it is going to be a pre-poll or post-poll alliance.”
Noting that the party had pre-poll alliances in states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Jharkhand and some northeastern states, Ramesh said it was not the case that the Congress was only for post-poll alliances.
According to Venugopal, while the 47-member Steering Committee will decide the Plenary agenda on February 24 morning, the issue of alliances will be reflected in the political resolution that will be passed later on February 26. “You will get a clear idea in the political resolution,” he said.
AICC general secretary in charge of Kerala Tariq Anwar, who is also supervising the plenary, said the coming session would help the party prepare for the 2024 national elections as well as the Assembly polls this year.
“Our leaders like Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, and Mallikarjun Kharge would address the gathering. The workers will get a direction for the future at the session,” said Anwar.
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As the Plenary Session is taking place after the successful completion of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, the former Congress chief and his ideas would rule the party’s 85th Plenary Session. To carry forward the spirit of the yatra the Congress is running a “hath se hath jodo” campaign across the country and has decided to extend it up to April from the end of March scheduled earlier.
Accordingly, Congress has also decided that the theme of the mega conclave would be “Hath se hath jodo” as well. “The plenary is about the Bharat Jodo Yatra. There is a new energy in the party after the yatra. Though the yatra was not for opposition unity, I would like to say that no opposition unity is possible without a strong Congress,” Ramesh said.
The Congress is upbeat that Rahul's five-month-long yatra saw participation from several opposition parties, who were also together with the Congress in Parliament over the Adani-Hindenburg issue during the Budget Session.
“The entire opposition spoke in one voice over the Adani issue demanding a JPC probe,” said Venugopal. According to Ramesh, the yatra was a turning point in Indian politics and showed that Congress will never compromise with the BJP.
Without taking any names but in an apparent hint to the TMC, Ramesh said that “There are some parties who used to attend opposition meetings at Khargeji’s chamber in Parliament but their actions helped the BJP. At a time when the entire opposition was demanding a JPC probe into the Adani issue, some parties were asking for a Supreme Court probe to help the government.”
As they spoke about opposition unity, the party leaders also gave a hint as to what would be the key message of the plenary. “The yatra has given a clear-cut direction to the party workers on how to raise public issues. The government had been behaving in a totally authoritarian way. They have been trying to crush the entire opposition. Therefore, Rahul Gandhi started his yatra. We have demonstrated that the public can be united against hatred,” said Venugopal.
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He further noted that the plenary would also reflect upon the ideas discussed at the Udaipur Chintan Shivir in may last year and were included in the Udaipur Declaration.
“There will be several new ideas. We will see them. There would also be deliberations on the Udaipur Declaration,” said Venugopal. The Plenary is a big event for the party which is lining up around 15,000 workers from across the country at the venue in Nava Raipur. Out of these, around 1821 would be the AICC delegates and 12,000 PCC delegates.
While the party would focus on the future electoral challenges, the issue of CWC elections would also be debated at the Steering Committee meeting on February 24, said Venugopal.
“The plenary session would conclude by 2 pm on February 26 and would be followed by a customary rally where all the key leaders would be present,” said AICC Treasurer Pawan Bansal, in charge of the Plenary Session.
