Sonia, Priyanka Gandhi to participate in 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' in Karnataka
Bengaluru, Sep 23: Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra would participate in the Karnataka leg of the "Bharat Jodo Yatra" led by Rahul Gandhi that will be entering the state on September 30, state party chief D K Shivakumar said on Friday.
Noting that the Karnataka Congress has made preparations for the yatra by giving responsibility to leaders, Shivakumar said Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi will be participating in the yatra here; they will be giving dates. "...I will announce the dates in the future."
AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal along with another AICC General Secretary and in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala, state Congress President Shivakumar and a host of leaders on Friday participated in the party's review meeting on the yatra.
"In Karnataka, Congress President Sonia Gandhi may attend the Bharat Jodo Yatra some day, and Priyanka Gandhi will also be joining separately," Venugopal said.
Noting that the Karnataka leg of the yatra will begin at Gundlupet on September 30 at 9 AM, Shivakumar said on October 2, Gandhi Jayanti, there is a programme at Badanavalu in Nanjangud Taluk, which is known for its Khadi and Gramodyog Centre.
"There will be two days holiday for Dasara, there will be a public meeting in Ballari, in between Rahul Gandhi will be interacting with youth, women, civil society, students, tribal community and farmers among others each day, and teams have been formed for this," he added.
Not wanting to comment on the demand for Rahul Gandhi as AICC President, Shivakumar in response to a question said, "KPCC has already authorised the Congress President...we all are committed that Rahul ji should lead the party, but it is left to him."
The AICC was fully satisfied with the arrangements made by KPCC for the yatra, Venugopal said, adding the march has been successful so far and the response to it in Tamil Nadu and Kerala is "unimaginable and beyond expectations".
Arrangements have been made in Karnataka to ensure the same success, he said, "for the last ten years, the BJP and Sangh Parivar had one duty- to tarnish the image of Rahul Gandhi, but people are now realising as to who is Rahul Gandhi...this yatra will be a turning point in Indian politics."
Responding to a question, Venugopal said, "PayCM' is not a campaign created by the Congress party. The party is only taking up genuine issues raised by people of Karnataka, everyone is saying this is the most corrupt government in the state."
The Congress is not scared of arrests, party workers have enough courage and will raise the corruption issue again and again, come what may, he said.
Surjewala said Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai "lords over" the most corrupt government in the entire country. "This is a one scam a day government that he (Bommai) heads."
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Sharad Pawar praised RSS after seeing how it burst fake narrative balloon of LS polls: Fadnavis
Nagpur, Jan 10: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar praised the RSS after realising how the outfit managed to overcome the fake narrative spread by the opposition in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The opposition had claimed BJP wanted to win 400 seats to change the Constitution and end reservations, a narrative which BJP leaders later claimed hit the party hard.
On Pawar praising the RSS recently, the CM said the MVA was successful in creating a fake narrative during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
"When assembly polls were approaching, many people from diverse fields who are inspired by the RSS played their role and burst the balloon of this fake narrative. Sharad Pawar saheb is very intelligent. He would have certainly studied this aspect. He realised that this (RSS) is not a regular political power but a nationalist power. In any competition it is good to praise others," he added.
That is why Pawar may have praised the RSS, Fadnavis said.
Speaking at an interaction with senior editor Vivek Ghalsasi at Late Vilasji Fadnis Jivhala programme here, Fadnavis also said he had asked for organisational work when Eknath Shinde was made chief minister in June 2022, but senior leaders asked him to join the government.
He also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked him not to behave like an extra-constitutional authority in the government.
He said the decision to become deputy chief minister on the command of the party leadership earned him a lot of praise from the cadre.
After the massive mandate the ruling alliance received in the 2024 assembly polls, Fadnavis said people and party workers would not have been happy if the CM was not from the BJP.
Shinde himself agreed within minutes that the CM must be from the BJP, which itself got 132 seats and was close to a majority of its own in the 288-member assembly, he added.
On Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray meeting him during the winter sessions of the legislature in Nagpur, Fadnavis said he had announced he would not indulge in politics of revenge after becoming CM and all leaders responded positively to it.
On chances of the NCP (SP) and NCP coming closer or reuniting, Fadnavis said, "If you see the developments that took place from 2019 to 2024, I realised never say never and anything can happen. Uddhav Thackeray goes to some other party and Ajit Pawar comes to us. In politics anything can happen though I am not saying this should happen."
He praised BJP leader Arun Gujarati from whom he learnt patience, which he claimed was an important quality in politics along with the ability to take criticism.
In a lighter vein, he said, "I only get angry when I am hungry. If you see me angry then give me something to eat and my anger will go away."
