Congress will hold the 85th plenary session of the party for three days between February 24 and 26 in Raipur. The elections for the Congress Working Committee (CWC) will take place during the same session.
Congress general secretary KC Venugopal said, “We had already elected the party chief and already announced the plenary session of the party in the last week of February.”
“The Congress will hold its 85th plenary session on February 24, 25, and 26. The three-day conference will debate six major subjects – political, economic, international affairs, farmers and agriculture, social justice and empowerment, youth education and employment,” he said.
“These subjects will be discussed and debated, along with the Constitutional Amendment Committee will also be part of the plenary session. CWC elections too will be held during the plenary session,” he added.
Commenting on the party’s 3,560 km Bharat Jodo Yatra, Venugopal further said that the first leg was already completed.
“Yatra will resume tomorrow from Delhi. Till now, Yatra has covered 3,222 km, passing through 49 districts, nine states and one union territory,” the Congress leader said.
He said that from January 26 onwards, Hath Se Hath Jodo Abhiyan will begin and it will be the follow-up of the yatra.
“Rahul Gandhi and Bharat Yatris are meeting tons of people in this country. This yatra is truly a listening exercise for the Congress party. So far, 87 meetings have been conducted. There have been 200 planned walks,” Venugopal said.
“To convey the message of the yatra, there have been 95 corner meetings, 10 large public meetings and nine major press conferences. The yatra will continue from Delhi to Uttar Pradesh, then Haryana, Punjab, and one day in Himachal Pradesh,” he explained.
Venugopal said that the yatra will enter J&K on January 20 and hoist the flag on January 30 in Srinagar. He said that the major achievement of the yatra is to unite India.
“We can give you numbers, but you cannot measure the unity factor through kilometres. The Bharat Jodo element can be measured from happy tears and what people have said to Rahul Gandhi,” he said.
Hitting out at the BJP for trying to defame the yatra, Venugopal said, “Of course the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Sangh Parivar tried to attack this Yatra. We are very confident that whatever level they are using to attack this yatra, we are getting a positive response more than that.”
“We have also written two letters to the Union Home Minister (Amit Shah). We can at least expect a reply on his part. Or at least his junior minister can reply. But we received a reply from some officers. And on December 24, there was total mismanagement by the Delhi Police, which was also not replied to by the Home Minister,” he said.
“We made a complaint against the security people, and the same security people are replying to us. What is the logic? Now we are going to Punjab and Kashmir, we are not scared of anything but it is our responsibility to point out the shortcomings of the security issues that we have created,” he said.
Venugopal also stated that lakhs of people participated in the yatra, with over 70% of those participating being under the age of 35. “Even women’s participation is amazing during the yatra, and even farmers have joined in large numbers,” he added.
Meanwhile, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said that the Supreme Court’s decision on demonetization is based on the process and not the impact.
“If someone has to apologise, then it is Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as lakhs of people lost their jobs, including lakhs of MSMEs in the country. And if someone has to apologise then it is the new father of the new nation,” Ramesh added while responding to a question on the BJP’s Ravi Shankar demanding an apology from Rahul Gandhi.