Country looking towards Hyderabad for historic CWC meet: Pawan Khera

Hyderabad, Sep 16 (IANS) The entire country is looking towards Hyderabad as people are interested to know what the Congress Working Committee (CWC) has to say on the upcoming Assembly elections in five states and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, said party leader Pawan Khera on Saturday.

Terming the CWC meeting as "historic", he told reporters: “We understand our responsibility and will ensure that we do justice to the aspirations and expectations of people."

The Congress leader said there will be an open debate during the CWC as members will be free to raise any issue or to make a suggestion.

He claimed that Bharat Jodo Yatra has changed the course of politics in the country.

“For the last one year, the Congress party has been literally on roads of this country picking up issues of people and talking about issues which unfortunately do not find to be in the mainstream of our narrative any more for the last nine years,” he said.

Khera said the 4,000-km mega walkathon was a turning point "in the way we do politics".

“They have been trying to distract our attention over the last nine years from one make-believe controversy to another but Bharat Jodo Yatra has changed that. Whether you are Narendra Modi or Amit Shah you will have to come down on actual issues that faced this country. That’s what the Bharat Jodo Yatra has done but now it’s very difficult for them because it’s not in their curriculum.

"Their curriculum is different from the curriculum people want. Bharat Jodo Yatra has ensured that the curriculum will be decided by the people,” he said.

He also claimed that the Congressachieved a historic milestone when it elected Mallikarjun Kharge as its president.

"No other party can achieve this. No other party has had this kind of open election. We are very proud of this tradition of electing our president. We have set an example for others."

On Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s tweet about a survey which shows Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the most popular leader in the world, the Congress leader called it a fake survey and said these are the gimmicks adopted by BJP before elections.

Khera also said that these gimmicks show that the BJP fears defeat, adding that Modi has to contest elections in India and instead of comparing himself to UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak or other world leaders, he should first tackle issues like the price rise, unemployment and China’s intrusion.

He remarked that people are tired of Modi and he should take rest because he is also tired after working for 18 hours every day.

On Union Minister Anurag Thakur’s slamming the INDIA bloc over DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin’s remarks on Sanatan dharma, the Congress leader asked why Thakur had no objection to the statement made by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, when the latter said that there was caste discrimination for 2,000 years and the lives of those discriminated against became like that of animals.

On INDIA  banning, boycotting or blacklisting several news anchors, Khera called it a non-cooperation movement.

“We will not cooperate with anyone spreading hatred. We have freedom not to be part of your crime,” he remarked.