Congress president Rahul Gandhi with Sonia Gandhi and former PM Manmohan Singh and others during the CWC meeting at New Delhi. Express photo by Renuka puri
UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi Sunday called for “Opposition unity” to rescue the people from a “dangerous regime” that is “compromising” with India’s democracy. In her address to the newly-constituted Congress Working Committee, Sonia said Congress chief Rahul Gandhi has the support of the party in making the alliances work.
Taking a swipe at the NDA government, Sonia Gandhi said, the rhetoric of Prime Minister Narendra Modi shows his “desperation” and it reflects that the “reverse countdown” of the Modi government has begun. Gandhi also added that the opposition parties should form strategic alliances to counter RSS’s organisational might and financial power. “We are committed to make alliances work and we are all with Congress President Rahul Gandhi in this endeavour. We have to rescue our people from a dangerous regime that is compromising with the democracy of India.”
The Congress Working Committee, the party’s highest decision-making body, is meeting for the first time under the leadership of chief Rahul Gandhi. In his address to the party workers, Rahul Gandhi reminded them of the Congress’ role as the “voice of India” and its responsibility of the “present and future”. Calling the CWC as a bridge between the past, present and the future, Gandhi urged members to stand and fight for “India’s oppressed.”
The newly reconstituted CWC under Rahul Gandhi is a blend of old and new politicians. (Express photo by Renuka Puri)
The meeting was also attended by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who rejected the culture of constant self-praise and ‘jumlas’ of the Prime Minister. He pointed out that the BJP’s claim of doubling farm income by 2022 will require an agriculture sector to grow at a rate of 14 per cent, which, he said, was nowhere in sight.
The newly reconstituted CWC under Rahul Gandhi is a blend of old and new politicians. Gandhi, however, dropped veterans like Digvijaya Singh, C P Joshi, Janardan Dwivedi, Sushil Kumar Shinde and Oscar Fernandes.