UPA alliance to defeat communal forces: Saleem Ahmed
Secular parties and like minded parties have held a high command level meeting to discuss about keeping communal forces away from the power. Our aim is to stop Bjp from regaining power at the centre and we will succeed in our task.
Secretary of All India Congress Committee Mangaluru based Saleem Ahmed visited Mangaluru recently. Saleem Ahmed plunged into active politics while he was a student in Bengaluru. He had served as the National president of Congress student wing NSUI, General secretary of Congress youth wing and chief director of Nehru youth association of Union youth service and sports department. He was also elected as the member of legislative council for two terms and served as chief whip as well. Presently he is the party in charge of Telangana.
He spoke about the preparation of congress for the upcoming 2019 general election with Varthabharati.
Q. How is congress preparing for the upcoming general election?
-
The process of creating political strategy has begun under the leadership of AICC president Rahul Gandhi. He has instructed to build the party from root level, organise the party from booth level and develop the party according to the ideologies of congress. We will inform people about the achievements of congress government. Various committees have been formed.
Q. Young voters had supported BJP in the last general election. what plans you have to to attract them?
-
In the last election BJP and Narendra Modi had made many promises to the young voters. The main one of which as creating two crore jobs every year. Believing these promises the youth had voted for bjp. But forget about 2 crore jobs bjp has even failed to create 4 lakh jobs in a year. They had promised to bring back black money, eradicate corruption and take the country to a new height through development. But they have failed in fulfilling all these promises. For the last four years Pm Modi is misleading the people through his rhetorics. Congress will form the government in the centre. Rahul Gandhi will become the Prime Minister. BJP is involved in many scandals. They are not ready to speak about Rafale deal. They have failed to answer the questions. People have lost hope on them. People will support congress again in the next election. That is why we have made alliance with like minded and secular regional parties.
Q. On what issue congress will fight this election?
-
In last election BJP had grabbed power by misleading the people. Earlier UPA government had introduced several good projects. BJP government has implemented these projects with different names. They have not done any good work on their own. Some organisations are trying to harm the communal harmony of the country. BJP government is not trying to stop them. Congress has been trying to protect the interest of all sections of the society. It will continue its work. We have given a solid secular government in the past and we promise to do our best in the future. We will go to the people with all these issues and request them to vote for congress.
Q. Congress had experienced set back in the last state assembly election. On coastal region also BJP emerged strong. Your opinion on this?
-
BJP had used some incidents that took place in coastal Karnataka during election. BJP had misled people about these incidents and managed to bag the votes. Congress through its pro people programs has introduced many several thousand crore rupees projects. But it was not publicised much. Other less important issues and incidents got more publicity than developmental works. This was the reason for our setback in the election.
Q. How will you manage the challenge of election compatibility and problem of alliance leadership in national level?
-
Secular parties and like minded parties have held a high command level meeting to discuss about keeping communal forces away from the power. Our aim is to stop BJP from regaining power at the centre and we will succeed in our task.
Q. There is a complaint that Congress always gives priority to senior leaders. How will you develop young leadership in the party?
-
Congress has always given priority to young leaders. More importantly, after Rahul Gandhi became the president youth have given more importance in the party and they are given opportunities to manage the party wherever we have power. At the same time senior leaders are also given equal importance. We seek their guidance and advise. seniors and juniors must walk together.
Q. Do you have plans to contest for next election?
-
Last time I had contested from Haveri. This time there is a plan to contest from either Haveri or Bengaluru central. Final decision yet to be taken. Whatever high command decides I will stick to it.
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.
Three dead after drinking country liquor in Meerut, police initiate probe
Meerut (UP) (PTI): Three people died under suspicious circumstances after consuming country liquor in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. Preliminary probe has not confirmed if they died due to the quality of alcohol, officials said on Saturday.
All three vomited and had abdominal pain after drinking the liquor on Friday evening and were rushed to a hospital where they were declared dead. A post-mortem will determine the exact cause of death, they said.
According to the police, Baburam (60), a grocery shop owner, Jitendra (35), who worked at his shop and Ankit alias Daulat (40), purchased liquor in the evening from a government-authorised country liquor outlet and began drinking at the spot.
Shortly after drinking the liquor, the health of all three deteriorated, and they began complaining of vomiting and abdominal pain.
The three were rushed to a private hospital, where doctors declared Jitendra and Ankit dead, while Baburam passed away during treatment.
Additional Director General (ADG) of Police for the Meerut Zone, Bhanu Bhaskar, District Magistrate VK Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Avinash Pandey, and District Excise Officer Pradeep Kumar reached the spot and initiated an investigation.
SSP Avinash Pandey said that preliminary investigations have not confirmed whether the liquor was "toxic or expired". The bottling date was found to be February 11, 2026, and other bottles from the same batch received no such complaints.
He added that a post-mortem will determine the exact cause of death. Personnel from the Health, Forensic, Surveillance, and Intelligence teams have been constituted to investigate the matter.
Following the incident, the family members created a ruckus at the hospital. Police said further action would be taken based on the findings of the investigation.
