New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday distanced itself from the controversial remarks made by senior leader Shashi Tharoor that party chief Mallikarjun Kharge or former chief Rahul Gandhi would be the Prime Ministerial nominee if the INDIA alliance wins the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“Tharoor is a CWC member and that may be his personal opinion. But, Rahul and Kharge said that the Prime Ministerial candidate would be selected by the INDIA parties after the opposition alliance wins the Lok Sabha elections. We will sit together to decide the issue,” CWC member Avinash Pande told ETV Bharat.
According to Pande, who is AICC in-charge of Jharkhand where the Congress shares power with JMM and RJD, the focus of the INDIA alliance is to highlight the people’s issues. “The INDIA alliance has been formed to defeat the BJP. The alliance focuses on people’s issues like unemployment, price rise, social harmony, attacks on institutions and holding caste census. These are the real issues and a priority for us, not the Prime Ministerial candidate. The BJP is diverting public attention from these real issues. The caste census will enable the future government to frame the social welfare policies according to the distribution of various groups,” said Pande.
Also read: Congress PM candidate Rahul or Kharge likely if INDIA bloc wins: Shashi Tharoor
“As far as the other alliance issues are concerned, the INDIA Coordination Committee is holding consultations and will work them out,” he said. The AICC functionary said he was not aware of the context in which Tharoor made the said remark, but noted that sometimes leaders make some comments to please the audience.
“Tharoor is a senior leader, he can say anything. But, the issue is not, who will be the Prime Ministerial candidate ahead of the 2024 national elections, but who will defeat the problems like unemployment, price rise, who will save the burning Manipur and who will probe Adani and who will defeat the BJP,” Congress social media in-charge Supriya Shrinate told ETV Bharat.
“The Congress believes in providing relief to the people and has therefore guaranteed jobs, women’s allowances and cheaper LPG cylinders in the poll-bound states. Wherever we are in power the State governments have already been providing such relief to the people. The party manifesto in Madhya Pradesh has promised to implement the Rs 25 lakhs health insurance scheme being implemented in Rajasthan,” she said.
According to the AICC secretary in-charge of Gujarat, BM Sandeep Kumar, the party’s government in Karnataka has developed a social safety infrastructure that is among the best in the world. “It involves direct money of Rs 2,000 every month given to women of the state in their bank account, financial support to farmers, reduced prices on gas cylinders, and free bus travel for women across the state."
"In Rajasthan, people with heart disease and cancer are being provided treatment for free; people can undergo operations for free and gas cylinders that cost Rs 1,000 in BJP-ruled states are given at Rs 500 in Rajasthan. In Chhattisgarh, farmers get the highest remuneration for rice in the country Rs 2,500 per quintal,” Sandeep Kumar told ETV Bharat.
