Rahul Gandhi discusses with Karnataka leaders preparation for next year's Assembly polls
New Delhi, Feb 24: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday met senior party leaders from Karnataka and discussed the political situation in the state and preparations for next year's assembly elections there.
AICC general secretary in charge for Karnataka Randeep Surjewala said the party would launch its 100-km 'Mekedatu Yatra' in the state from February 27.
The party had stalled the yatra in January because of rising Covid cases and some of its leaders contracting the disease.
Surjewala said the party has also decided to launch a series of agitations highlighting unemployment, price rise, corruption and scams in Karnataka.
Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi met with many senior party leaders from Karnataka, including the leaders of the opposition in the Legislative Assembly and Council, state unit chief and many other senior office bearers.
"We had a detailed discussion on the state of political affairs in Karnataka. How the (Basavaraj) Bommai government is mired in deep-rooted corruption, it is a 40 per cent tender commission government and how the crypto-currency scam has reached the highest echelons of power and the government being completely mum," Surjewala told reporters.
He said the Congress also discussed how "misgovernance and maladministration have become the buzzwords of the BJP dispensation in Karnataka and how price rise and complete mal-governance have impacted the state government.
"Consequently the Congress has decided to launch public agitations on each of these facets -- unemployment, price rise, misgovernance and maladministration and complete abdication of authority and complete corruption in the government.
"Now that the assembly polls are only 14 months away, those issues as preparations for the elections were deliberated upon," Surjewala said.
He added that Rahul Gandhi had a free and frank discussion with the leaders and took their suggestions some of which will be implemented in the next few days.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
