Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Gidugu Rudra Raju on December 15 (Friday) said the party would, over the course of the next 70 days, implement its poll strategy which has been meticulously designed at the party’s three-day political affairs and coordination committee meetings.
From January 20, the party leaders and cadres would take up a door-to-door campaign under its ‘Intinta Congress’ initiative, he informed at a press conference. He said the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) centenary celebrations would be organised in Kakinada on December 29 as part of the party’s foundation day (December 28).
He said the mood is upbeat in the party as it is gearing up for extensive canvassing with active support from the party leadership, including AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge and leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi who were scheduled to visit the State and address public meetings at different places.
Earlier on Thursday, Mr. Rudra Raju challenged Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to drop the two words ‘YSR’ and ‘Congress’ from the name of his party and then seek the people’s mandate in the forthcoming elections.
“Both the names belong to the Congress party. Mr. Jagan has clung on to power by using these two words that had wide acceptance among people in the State. I dare him to drop these words and then go to people to seek their votes,” he said.
‘Reality dawning on people’
Mr. Rudra Raju said reality was dawning on the people of the State who were beginning to realise that Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy was not the true political heir of the late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, who was an “out-and-out Congress leader”.
“People have seen the true colours of both the TDP and the YSRCP. The TDP ruled the State for five years but did not do anything concrete to mitigate the woes of the people who were at the receiving end of the gross apathy of the BJP government at the Centre, which denied the State its rightful share of resources and financial assistance,” he said.
