Rahul Gandhi should stop Bharat Jodo Yatra, focus on poll-bound Himachal Pradesh & Gujarat: Cong MP
Panaji (PTI): Congress MP and former Goa chief minister Francisco Sardinha on Monday said Rahul Gandhi should stop the ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra and concentrate on the poll-bound states of Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat.
He claimed that Congress is the "only party" which can defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra is scheduled to cover a distance of 3,570 km in 150 days. It started on September 7 from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu and will conclude in Jammu and Kashmir.
Rahul Gandhi, who is leading the yatra, has so far covered four states - Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
The Bharat Jodo Yatra is very important for the Congress. We want the party to grow at the grassroot level. He (Rahul Gandhi) has done a fantastic job, but now I want Rahulji to stop immediately and go to Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat where there are elections, Sardinha told reporters in Panaji during polling for the All India Congress Committee (AICC) president's post.
The Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections will be held in a single phase on November 12 and the results will be declared on December 8.
The Election Commission has not yet announced the poll schedule for Gujarat.
Sardinha said Rahul Gandhi needs to awaken the people of these two states so that they vote for the Congress, he said.
The "only party" which can pose a challenge to the BJP and defeat it is the Indian National Congress, the Lok Sabha member from South Goa said.
Commenting on the polls underway on Monday for the new AICC chief, Sardinha said Shashi Tharoor should have withdrawn from the poll race, to pave the way for Congress veteran Mallikarjun Kharge to get elected unopposed.
"Ninety nine per cent of the Congressmen from Goa will vote for Mallikarjun Kharge, he said.
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SP has ended contract with I-PAC due to fund constraints: Akhilesh Yadav
Lucknow (PTI): Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday said his party has severed its association with the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) due to a lack of funds.
He dismissed speculations that the termination of contract was because of recent election results.
Addressing a press conference here, Yadav said the party had engaged I-PAC for a brief period ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections but could not continue the arrangement.
"Yes, we had an association. They worked with us for a few months, but we are not able to continue because we do not have that kind of funding," he said.
The I-PAC is a political consultancy firm known for managing major election campaigns across the country.
Election strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor has also been associated with the organisation in the past and has worked with multiple parties, including the BJP and the Congress.
In a lighter vein, Yadav took a swipe at the ecosystem of political consultancies. "We thought that if we have to work with a 'winning agency', then there are several big companies."
He said that some people suggested conducting surveys, hiring another firm, keeping a social media company, and even engaging agencies for negative campaigning against other parties.
"There are one or two more companies whose names are not yet known. I can get those for you as well," Yadav said.
Yadav rejected the suggestion that the decision to end the deal was influenced by recent election outcomes in states such as West Bengal.
"There is no such thing. Do not ask questions based on baseless reports. That is not true," he said.
"This is not the reason for ending the agreement. We simply do not have enough funds. If you (the media) give us funds, we can hire another company," the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said.
