Congress to step up its election campaign in the coming weeks
A day after the Congress released its manifesto, sources said the party has drawn up elaborate plans to popularise the manifesto by holding public rallies including joint rallies with top INDIA bloc leaders.
Sources said former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi will hold a joint rally with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin at Coimbatore on April 12 and similar rallies are also being planned in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Maharashtra under the INDIA bloc banner.
On Saturday, Congress general secretary (communication) Jairam Ramesh claimed the Lok Sabha polls are “not fair” with Opposition parties being targeted but despite that, the INDIA bloc will get a clear majority in the elections.
“This election is not fair with action being taken against Opposition parties but despite this, we believe that the INDIA ‘janbandhan’ [people’s alliance] will get a clear mandate because of the public response to ‘paanch nyay, pachees guarantees’ of the Congress and its allies which reflect the needs of the people,” Mr. Ramesh said.
The Congress leader also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh over their recent remarks that “new India” is capable of carrying out strikes inside enemy territory, the Congress communication chief called them “diversionary” tactics.
“Prime Minister always wants to divert attention from people’s issues, be they farmers, youth, women. I want to remind Prime Minister that between 1940 and 1942, Hindutva ideologue Syama Prasad Mookerjee had formed a government in Bengal with the Muslim League... Mr. Modi always adopts divisive politics,” he said in response to Mr. Modi’s comments on the Congress manifesto, saying that it reflected the ethos of the Muslim League and the Communists.
The party also plans to hold press conferences across the country and Sonia Gandhi is likely to release a video on the manifesto. It has already printed eight crore “guarantee cards” in different languages including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Odia, Hindi, English, Bengali, Punjabi, Assamese, and Urdu.
Special teams have been assigned to look after the distribution of guarantee cards to people in several Parliamentary seats while general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal held a Zoom meeting to take feedback.
Though the party has stepped up its electoral efforts, announcing 241 candidates so far, it is yet to take a call on the candidates for Amethi and Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh.