Turning around Andhra, a big challenge for Chandy
Thiruvananthapuram, June 14: Even as his former close associates P.J. Kurien and V.M. Sudheeran have gone hammer and tongs against him, former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy's biggest worry now is how to revive the fortunes of his party in Andhra Pradesh as he gets ready to visit every nook and corner of the state, with the message that the good old Congress party is back.
Chandy, on Wednesday night, returned from his first visit to Andhra after taking over as the General Secretary in charge of that state.
In a chat with here, he dismissed the recent attacks by his former close associates with a smile and said things are tough in Andhra Pradesh but he has taken it as the biggest challenge of his political career.
"I spent the past two days interacting with the top and middle level leadership of the party there in groups and individually. Even though language is a slight problem, I managed it and now I will be there practically every week for a day or two as I have been given the permission to stay away from Delhi to stay put in Andhra by my president Rahul Gandhi," said Chandy.
The challenge before Chandy at present is that the Congress has just a two per cent vote share there and the two leading parties -- the ruling party, Telugu Desam Party and the principal opposition party, YSR Congress party, do not have the best of relations with the Congress party.
Keeping his cards close to his chest, the master tactician who has seen it all in his five decades of political play in Kerala, said in Andhra Pradesh, the 'Congress' party is very much there, but it is with YSR.
"I am now waiting to hear from Gandhi, who has agreed to come over to Andhra Pradesh very soon. And once he is there, I have decided to travel to every nook and corner with the message that the Congress party is back. I am hopeful of winning back the hearts of the people, who always had a soft corner for the Congress party," he said.
Meanwhile, Kurien and Sudheeran have kept up their attack on Chandy.
The duo feels that Chandy was responsible for gifting a Rajya Sabha seat to get veteran K.M. Mani, who heads the Kerala Congress (Mani), back into the Congress-led UDF.
Since then, Kurien has been fretting and fuming as he was all set to get a fourth successive term in the Upper House. So has Sudheeran, who said Chandy never cooperated with him when he was the state party president for two years starting from 2015.
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.
What was the need to disrespect 82-year-old leader: Priyanka slams PM
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of disrespecting Mallikarjun Kharge by not replying to the Congress president's letter himself, and said it is unfortunate that leaders in the highest positions have rejected great traditions of democracy.
The Congress general secretary said today's politics is full of poison and the prime minister should have set a different example, keeping the dignity of his post in mind.
On Tuesday, Kharge had written a letter to the prime minister and raised the issue of "extremely objectionable" and violent statements by the ruling alliance members targeting Rahul Gandhi, urging him to discipline his leaders.
In response to Kharge's letter to Modi, BJP chief J P Nadda wrote to the Congress president and cited his party's own litany of complaints against the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and other Congress members for their choice of words against the prime minister.
In a post in Hindi on X, Priyanka Gandhi said that in view of the unrestrained and violent statements of some BJP leaders and ministers, Congress president and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Kharge wrote a letter to the PM, concerned about the safety of the life of Rahul Gandhi.
"If the Prime Minister had faith in democratic values, balanced dialogue and respect for elders, he would have himself replied to this letter.
Instead, he got a low-level and aggressive reply written by Nadda ji and sent it," she said.
What was the need to disrespect an 82-year-old senior public leader, Priyanka Gandhi asked.
"The tradition and culture of democracy is to ask questions and have a dialogue. Even in religion, no one is above values such as dignity and etiquette," she said.
"Today's politics is full of poison, the Prime Minister should have set a different example, keeping the dignity of his post in mind," Priyanka Gandhi said.
If the PM had respectfully replied to the letter of a senior politician, his image and dignity would have increased in the eyes of the public, she said.
"It is unfortunate that our leaders in the highest positions in the government have rejected these great traditions," Priyanka Gandhi said.
The Congress on Thursday had said Prime Minister Modi must rise above "petty politics" and condemn the actions of the ruling alliance leaders, who targeted Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi.
The opposition party had asserted the whole world is watching how the ruling BJP is "putting the life of the Leader of the Opposition in danger".
The assertion came in a letter by AICC general secretary in-charge Jairam Ramesh to Nadda in response to the BJP chief's letter to Kharge earlier.
The opposition party has slammed as "intemperate" and "juvenile" Nadda's reply to Kharge on his letter to Prime Minister Modi flagging "threats" aimed at Gandhi.
