Congress begins assessment of its support base
MUMBAI:AS the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) finds ways to pacify the agitating Marathas outfits and draw the attention of other communities, the main opposition party, Congress, has started an exercise to gauge the impact of Maratha agitation on its support base.
In a recent meeting, districtlevel office-bearers from Marathwada and western Maharashtra apprised the observers about unrest among communities in the backdrop of the Maratha protests.
The AICC, in July, put its general secretary Mallikarjun Kharge as in-charge of Maharashtra, along with three secretaries for the Maharashtra Congress unit. On the directions of Kharge, the secretaries Sonal Patel, Ashish Dua and Sampath Kumar have been holding review meetings in various regions. The secretaries recently visited Marathwada and western Maharashtra when the Maratha protests were at its peak. The district-level office-bearers from these two regions, besides the political scenario, also spoke about the unrest among various communities for want of reservations.
“I told the panel that amid the Maratha protest, the Other Backward Class (OBC) is moving closer to the BJP and it was evident in the recent results of the elections of municipal corporations, district councils and gram panchayats. The OBCS have been our traditionally supporting us. We need to concentrate on retaining their support. We also insisted on alliance with likeminded parties like the NCP to ensure a strong coalition against the ruling parties,” said Rajkishor Modi, district president of Beed.
Abdul Sattar, party MLA from Sillod in Aurangabad, said that not only Marathas, but the reservation to the other communities too was discussed with the secretaries. “The Congress has the long-standing tradition of according reservation to various communities. The central leaders were apprised about the ongoing protest by Marathas, Muslims, Dhangars (shepherds) and its political repercussions on the region,” he said. The MLA has recently submitted his resignation to the speaker of state Assembly for the demand of the reservations to these communities.
Dua said: “It is not true that OBCS are moving away from the Congress as our party is known for treating all communities equally.”
The party has also planned to appoint two more secretaries and appoint each of the five as in-charge of five regions in the state. The region-wise meeting in the next phase will be more for the tapping of the potential candidates for Lok Sabha and Assembly elections and seat sharing with the alliance partners. “After the appointments, there will be region-wise meetings with one secretary for each of the regions. During those meetings, the review about the potential candidate will taken and the report will be given to the high command