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Mallikarjun Kharge's take on 'real fight' ahead of crucial Congress polls
Kharge also responded to the allegation that delegates are making favourable statements (said to be against the Central Election Committee norms).
Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, a candidate for the party's presidential election, said Sunday that the real fight was against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its parent organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The veteran leader said democratic institutions built by the Congress in the last seven decades have been weakened and the voice of dissent muzzled – in a dig at the BJP, which the grand old party has time and again criticised for using central agencies to settle “political scores”.
"The democratic institutions built by the Congress in seven decades have been weakened and the voice of dissent is being muzzled and crushed...Our real fight is against the BJP and the RSS which are vitiating the country's political, democratic and social atmosphere," Kharge, who is taking on Congress MP Shashi Tharoor for the party's top post, was quoted by news agency PTI.
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Addressing a gathering of Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) delegates, Kharge said, "The assets created by the Congress right from Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru to Manmohan Singh government have been sold by the Narendra Modi–led government. The Congressmen have to take the lead and wake up and carry along everybody to save the Constitution and democracy in the country."
He said the upcoming elections are an internal matter of the Congress and that polls had been held four times previously, including the last one between Sonia Gandhi and Jitendra Prasada. "Nobody knows when and how elections of the president are held in the BJP, so what right the party has to raise questions about others, especially Congress which is the oldest and largest democratic party in the country," he added.
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Kharge also responded to the allegation that delegates are making favourable statements (said to be against the Central Election Committee norms). "Delegates are expressing their views. Delegates can make (such comments). They are not office bearers. There are 9,300 delegates."
The Congress leader, who earlier resigned from the post of Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) in line with the party's ‘one person one post’ policy, requested the support of all the delegates in the crucial polls.
"I have come here ahead of the Congress elections. I want to request all the Congress delegates for their help and support. I decided to fight the elections after their support and so far I have been getting a tremendous response. I will be meeting and interacting with all the delegates," Kharge said.
The results of the polls – to replace Sonia Gandhi – will be declared on October 19. Since the Gandhis are not contesting, the party is set to get a non-Gandhi president after over 25 years.
(With ANI, PTI inputs)
