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    Congress Working Committee meets to discuss future plans: Here's everything Sonia Gandhi said

    Synopsis

    Talking about the presidency of the party, Sonia Gandhi said that she is a full-time and hands-on Congress president. In terms of the organizational election, the Congress president has said that today will be the occasion to bring clarity once and for all.

    New Delhi: Congress Interim President Sonia Gandhi with party leader Rahul Gandh...PTI
    Congress Interim President Sonia Gandhi with party leader Rahul Gandhi and others during the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting to discuss the current political situation, upcoming Assembly polls, and organisational elections, at AICC headquarters in New Delhi.
    The Congress Working Committee met today to discuss organizational polls and the current political situation which the party has found itself in.

    CWC meet: I am full-time and hands-on Congress president, says Sonia Gandhi

    The Congress Working Committee is meeting to discuss organizational polls and the current political situation in which the party finds itself. Talking about the presidency of the party, Sonia Gandhi said that she is a full-time and hands-on Congress president.

    Here are the highlights...
    1. Message to the G23: The Congress chief said she is a full-time, hands-on party president and there is no need for leaders to speak to her through the media.

    Her remarks came days after Kapil Sibal, one of the leaders of the group of 23 who had written to Sonia Gandhi for organisational overhaul last year, demanded that an immediate meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) be convened and wondered who in the party was taking decisions in the absence of a full-time president.

    2. Centre's National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) scheme:
    She said the country's social goals are in jeopardy because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government's single-point agenda of "Becho, Becho, Becho" (sell, sell, sell).

    3. Rising inflation: "Prices of essential commodities - food and fuel included - continue to rise unabated. Could anyone in the country ever imagine that petrol prices would be over 100 rupees a litre, diesel would be nearing the 100 rupees a litre mark, a gas cylinder would cost 900 rupees and cooking oil would be 200 rupees a litre? This is making life unbearable for people across the country."

    4. Organizational election: Covid had indefinitely delayed the party's plans of electing a regular Congress chief, which was slated to happen originally by June 30.

    5. Spurt in killings in Jammu and Kashmir: "Minorities clearly have been targeted," she said, and added, "this must be condemned in the strongest possible terms."

    "We have done so and I do so again this morning. Jammu and Kashmir has been a Union Territory for two years. The entire responsibility for bringing the perpetrators of these barbaric crimes to justice is that of the Union government. Restoring social peace and harmony and confidence amongst the people in Jammu and Kashmir rests with the Modi government too,."

    6. Government's stance on farmers' protest: "We are meeting in the background of the continuing agitation by farmers and farmers' organisations. It has been over a year since the 'teen kaale kanoon' were bulldozed through Parliament. We had done our best to have them subjected to legislative scrutiny but the Modi government was hell-bent on getting them passed so that a few private companies could benefit," said Gandhi.

    "Farmers began their protests immediately and have suffered much since then. The shocking incidents at Lakhimpur-Kheri recently betrays the mindset of the BJP, how it perceives the Kisan Andolan, how it has been dealing with this determined struggle by Kisans to protect their lives and livelihoods," she added.

    In an uplifting spirit she said that the party could do well in the upcoming elections if they remained united and faced the party’s challenges together.


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