A day after the Congress released its manifesto, sources said the party has drawn up elaborate plans to popularise the manifesto by holding public rallies including joint rallies with top Indian National, Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc leaders.
Sources said former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi will hold a joint rally with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin at Coimbatore on April 12 and similar rallies are also being planned in U.P., Bihar, Jharkhand, and Maharashtra under the INDIA bloc banner.
On Saturday, Congress general secretary (communication) Jairam Ramesh claimed the Lok Sabha polls are “not fair” with Opposition parties being targeted but despite that, INDIA bloc will get a clear majority in the elections.
“This election is not fair with action being taken against opposition parties but despite this, we believe that the INDIA ‘janbandhan’ [people’s alliance] will get a clear mandate because of the public response to ‘paanch nyay, pachees guarantees’ of the Congress and its allies which reflect the needs of the people,” Mr. Ramesh said.
The Congress leader also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh over their recent remarks “new India” is capable of carrying out strikes inside enemy territory, the Congress communication chief called them “diversionary” tactics.
“Prime Minister always wants to divert attention from people’s issues, be they farmers, youth, women. I want to remind Prime Minister that between 1940 and 1942, Hindutva ideologue Syama Prasad Mookerjee had a formed a government in Bengal with the Muslim League... Mr. Modi always adopts divisive politics,” he said in response to Mr. Modi’s comments on the Congress manifesto, saying that it reflected the ethos of the Muslim League and the Communists.
The party also plans to hold press conferences across the country next Wednesday and Thursday and Ms. Gandhi is likely to release a video on the manifesto. It has already printed eight crore “guarantee cards” in different languages including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Odia, Hindi, English, Bengali, Punjabi, Assamese, and Urdu.
Special teams have been assigned to look after the distribution of guarantee cards to people in several in several Parliamentary seats while General Secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal held a Zoom meeting to take feedback. A senior functionary of the party said that the party has come out with the manifesto to convey a clear message to party workers that despite facing hurdles like restrictions on its bank accounts and notices from the income tax (IT) departments.
Though the party has stepped up its electoral efforts, announcing 241 candidates so far, it is yet to take a call on the candidates for Amethi and Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh. While Mr. Gandhi represented Amethi thrice since 2004 before losing the 2019 election to the BJP’s Smriti Z. Irani, his mother has represented Rae Bareli for five consecutive terms but will not be contesting the current Lok Sabha election.
A senior leader said the central election committee (CEC) may take a call next week but a majority of party members want Mr. Gandhi and his sister, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, to contest from Amethi and Rae Bareli respectively.
