Karnataka’s Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on November 11 (Saturday) said the Congress cadre in Andhra Pradesh should not lose heart, as good days were ahead for the party.
“Nothing is permanent in politics. Today you may not have the numbers, but the situation will change when the Congress party will come to power at the Centre and extend its full support for strengthening the party unit in Andhra Pradesh,” Mr. Shivakumar said at a press conference he addressed at Andhra Ratna Bhavan here.
Referring to the small number of party leaders and cadres who stayed with the Congress during its difficult phase, Mr. Shivakumar said they would not have to face disappointment in future as the situation was bound to improve.
He advised that in every Assembly constituency, dedicated party workers should take the lead and build the party from the grassroot level. “The party may not have even a single representative either in the State Assembly or in Parliament today, but this is not a permanent feature. There is a sunrise after sunset, that is the law of nature,” he said.
In Andhra Pradesh, he said neither the TDP nor the YSR Congress Party had a national outlook. “No party can survive without a national outlook,” he asserted, reminding the party cadre that the Congress “is a party with a national flag.”
He suggested that the party leadership in the State deploy one “digital youth” in every booth, without having to depend on the media to write about them.
Mr. Shivakumar said for the forthcoming elections, All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi were working out a big strategy, which was supported by 26 parties.
He said in Telangana there was a clear wave in favour of the Congress party.
Congress Working Committee member N. Raghuveera Reddy praised the role being played by Mr. Shivakumar in reviving the party to its past glory. He said Mr. Shivakumar was like a trouble-shooter in the Congress party, as wherever there was a problem, he was being sent to overcome it. “He is a big asset to the party,” he said, reminding that he had given a new leash of life to the Congress in Karnataka.
Urging the Karnataka leader to extend his support to the A.P. unit, he said the fact that people of the State had already seen what the other two parties, TDP and the YSR Congress Party, could do, would work in favour of the Congress now.
A.P. Congress Committee president Gidugu Rudra Raju, the party’s working presidents and other leaders were present.
