New Delhi:The Congress has decided to go on the offensive and will celebrate the grand old party’s foundation day on December 28 in Nagpur, the headquarters of the RSS, the ideological mentor of the BJP. According to party insiders, plans are afoot for a mega rally of around 10 lakh persons, which will be addressed by former Congress chiefs Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra besides senior leaders from across the country.
“We are going to celebrate the party’s foundation day in Nagpur this year. The party was founded in Mumbai in 1885 and ideally, a big celebration should be held in Maharashtra. Mumbai would have been a natural choice for the event but Nagpur was chosen as many party leaders from Karnataka, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh wanted to attend the foundation day event and Nagpur is a central location for them geographically,” former Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan told this channel.
Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia is expected to sound the bugle for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls at the Nagpur rally, which will come days after the fourth meeting of the INDIA alliance in Delhi on Dec 19. On Friday, Sonia expressed solidarity with the 14 suspended opposition MPs including 9 from the Congress, 2 DMK, 2 CPI-M, 1 CPI, and 1 TMC outside the Parliament building.
The MPs had been suspended for demanding a response from either PM Modi or Home Minister Amit Shah over the security breach that took place a day before on Dec 13, the anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attack on Parliament. “This is a party event and not linked to the Lok Sabha polls. However, since the entire Congress Working Committee is expected to attend the event, it assumes political significance. If it gives us an electoral benefit, it is good. As far as the RSS is concerned, they just have headquarters in Nagpur and do not have much influence in the city. They operate nationwide,” said Chavan.