Sonia Gandhi expresses concern over lack of 'cohesion' among state leaders
"Strengthening party must override 'personal ambitions'"
New Delhi(PTI): In a candid message to top Congress leaders, party president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday said strengthening the organisation must override "personal ambitions" and emphasised the need for discipline and unity for both collective and individual success.
Chairing a meeting of party leaders to evolve a strategy for assembly elections in five states early next year, she said there is "lack of clarity and cohesion" on policy issues even among state leaders and expressed concern that the messages on key issues were not percolating down to the grassroot cadres.
Former party chief Rahul Gandhi along with Congress general secretaries, in-charges and pradesh presidents attended the meeting that also comes amid growing factionalism within the party's state units.
Gandhi said the party also wishes to focus on training its cadres to counter BJP's "false propaganda" and will work out modalities for the upcoming training programmes.
"The fight to defend our democracy, our constitution and the Congress party's ideology begins with being fully prepared to identify and counter false propaganda.
We must fight the diabolical campaign of BJP/RSS ideologically. We must do so with conviction and expose their lies before the people if we are to win this battle," she said.
The meeting to chalk out a strategy ahead of assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur also comes ahead of the party's new membership drive starting November 1.
"I would like to re-emphasise the paramount need for discipline and unity. What should matter to each and every one of us is the strengthening of the organisation. This must override personal ambitions. In this lies both collective and individual success," Sonia Gandhi said in her opening remarks.
Stressing on training programmes for party workers, the Congress chief said it should be taken up on priority.
Noting that new members are the "lifeblood" of any political movement, she said the young men and women across the nation seek a movement to give voice to their aspirations and it is the Congress' duty to provide them with a platform.
She also called upon party leaders to go house to house to enrol members in a transparent fashion.
Noting that AICC releases important and detailed statements almost every day on issues facing the nation, Sonia Gandhi said, "but it is my experience that they do not percolate down to our grass root cadres at the block and district level".
"There are policy issues on which I find a lack of clarity and cohesion even amongst our state-level leaders", she added.
Attacking the Modi government, she said it has sought to erode our institutions so it may evade accountability and has sought to undermine the core values of our constitution so it can hold itself to a lower standard.
It has questioned the very fundamentals of our democracy, she said.
Gandhi said the party's history bears witness to the fact that if an organisation is to succeed against injustice and inequality, if it is to effectively champion the rights of the marginalised, it must become a widespread agitation down to the grassroots.
"We must redouble our fight for those who are the victims of this government's worst excesses: our farmers and farm labourers, our youth fighting for jobs and opportunities, small and medium scale businesses, our brothers, our sisters with particular focus on the deprived," she stressed.
On the assembly elections early next year, the Congress leader said our campaign must be founded upon concrete policies and programmes emanating from widespread discussions with all sections of the society.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
