In what is being seen as a key political meeting after it badly lost Bihar elections, Congress convened meeting of top leadership to deliberate the current political situation as also its future course of action against the government. The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters at Indira Bhawan in New Delhi.
A major takeaway of the meeting was the decision later announced in a press conference by Malikarjun Kharge that party will launch a campaign against the repeal of the UPA-era rural employment legislation MGNREGA on January 5. He warned that people are angry and the Narendra Modi government will have to face the consequences for the move. He said MGNREGA was not just a scheme, but the ‘Right to Work’ given by the Constitution. “People are angry over the repeal of MGNREGA; the government will have to face the consequences,” he said.
At a press conference in New Delhi on Saturday after meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), Kharge said the party will lead the ‘MGNREGA Bachao Abhiyan’ across the country. “At the CWC meeting, we took an oath that a campaign would be launched with MGNREGA as its focal point. “The Modi government has, without any study, evaluation or consultation with states and political parties, repealed the law. The government’s move should be protested against across the country,” he said.
Senior party leaders including Congress parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi and leader of opposition in Lok Sabha and former party president Rahul Gandhi, besides chief ministers of the Congress-ruled states of Karnataka, Telangana and Himachal Pradesh attended the meeting.
Congress General Secretary K.C. Venugopal, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, senior Congress leader Harish Rawat, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, former MP Salman Khurshid, MPs Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Rajeev Shukla are among the prominent leaders present at the deliberations.Congress MP Shashi Tharoor was also seen attending the meeting, despite his recent remarks that reportedly did not align well with the party's official stance.
Congress leader Harish Rawat called the meeting "very important". Speaking to the reporters, he said, "One cannot even imagine that in independent India, Mahatma Gandhi's name could be removed from the MGNREGA. This is a completely unacceptable decision." Discussions on the National Herald case, issues concerning the Aravalli region, and other key political matters are also likely to feature prominently during the meeting.Meanwhile, amid the crucial CWC deliberations, a group of around a dozen protesters gathered outside the AICC headquarters in Delhi, demanding that Karnataka's current Home Minister G. Parameshwara be appointed as the next Chief Minister of the state.
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