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Rahul Gandhi presides over meetings to discuss Assam, Tamil Nadu polls
Speculation about Rahul Gandhi’s return as the Congress chief has renewed since Sonia Gandhi left for Goa on the advice of her doctors for health reasons because of growing pollution in Delhi
When Rahul Gandhi presided over meetings regarding the Tamil Nadu and Assam elections on Monday, he made it clear at the outset that Congress president Sonia Gandhi had assigned him the task. He said he was there to listen to what the party functionaries had to say and convey that to Sonia Gandhi. People aware of the matter said the message was clear that Rahul Gandhi was only carrying out Sonia Gandhi’s orders and his return as Congress president after he resigned from the post last year was not to be taken for granted.
Speculation about Rahul Gandhi’s return as the Congress chief has renewed since Sonia Gandhi left for Goa on the advice of her doctors for health reasons because of growing pollution in Delhi. The party is also committed to conducting elections for the post of the party president by January. The announcement was made after a Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting in August when 23 leaders wrote a letter asking for internal polls.
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KC Venugopal, Mukul Wasnik, Ambika Soni, and Randeep Surjewala, who are part of the team set up to assist Sonia Gandhi, attended Monday’s meetings. AK Antony, another member of the team, is recovering from Covid-19 and could not attend them. CWC member P Chidambaram, Dinesh Gundu Rao, and Manickam Tagore were among others who attended the meetings.
A functionary, who attended the meetings, said they lasted for two hours and Rahul Gandhi emphasised how the Congress’s relationship with Tamils differed from that of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). “While the RSS is repressing the Tamil culture, the Congress believes in bridging it with the rest of the country,’’ the functionary quoted Rahul Gandhi as saying.
The functionaries assessed Congress’s alliance with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu and noted how 5-7% vote share can be contributed in the state. “He [Rahul Gandhi] told us to play a positive role and work hard in our seats,’’ said another leader.
Rahul Gandhi warned of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s attempts to polarise voters ahead of next year’s assembly polls in Assam. In his meeting with the leaders from Assam, he asked the state unit to be prepared to face the ruling BJP head-on. “We were told that the BJP would try to muddy the scenario by polarising voters on communal lines and instructed to be prepared for it in the coming weeks leading to the polls,” said a third Congress leader.
