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.
Ahead of the mega event, the AICC general secretary in charge of the organisation, KC Venugopal, reached Nagpur and held a meeting with senior Maharashtra leaders to prepare for the foundation day rally. “The RSS/BJP need to be reminded that the country is yet not Congress-free despite their best efforts and the fact that the RSS did not hoist the Indian flag for several decades at its headquarters after Independence,” AICC secretary in charge of Maharashtra Ashish Dua told this channel.
“Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra last year generated huge support for the Congress in Maharashtra, where we will fight the BJP with our allies Shiv Sena UBT and NCP. Maharashtra has 48 Lok Sabha seats, and the opposition alliance will win a big score this time. Though the BJP caused defections in Shiv Sena and NCP and took away the MLAs, the people are still with Sena UBT leader Uddhav Thackeray and NCP chief Sharad Pawar. 2024 is going to be an ideological fight with the RSS/BJP,” he said. Congress leaders said it was not clear if the allies would also be invited to the Nagpur rally. “Since it is a Congress foundation day, I wonder if any allies might be invited. It is going to be a Congress show all together,” said Chavan.
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