Speaking on the Bharat Jodo Yatra led by party leader Rahul Gandhi, Kharge said “it is not a political rally”….reports Asian Lite News
Congress party’s presidential candidate Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday said he will give 50 per cent tickets to youth to contest elections if he becomes the chief of the party. The election for the Congress party president is scheduled to be held on October 17.
Kharge arrived in Patna on Tuesday for his election campaign to seek support of the party members. He said that he had learnt about his candidature just 18 hours before the announcement.
“During the Congress’ conference in Udaipur, the party had set the agenda to give 50 per cent seats to youth. It is also our election manifesto. If I become the national president of the party, I will implement it. We work for the people working in unorganised sectors, labourers, and farmers. I will take forward the ideology of Mahatma Gandhi in the country,” the senior Congress leader from Karnataka said.
“The way BJP leaders are doing arbitrariness in the country, the democracy comes under threat. Saving the democracy of the country is also our core ideology of the party and I stick to it,” he said.
Speaking on the Bharat Jodo Yatra led by party leader Rahul Gandhi, Kharge said “it is not a political rally”.
“Rahul Gandhi is doing the Bharat Jodo Yatra to unite the people of the country against BJP which is doing divisive politics and creating differences in the society in the names of caste and religions. He is getting support from a large number of people,” he said.
Mallikarjun Kharge is contesting against another senior leader Shashi Tharoor for the post of the party’s national president.
Kharge on Monday promised that he will give more stress on “collective decisions” in the party if he is elected for that chair.
“This is an internal election. Any decision will be taken through internal and mutual discussions. Not ‘me’ but ‘we’ will together take the decisions,” Kharge said while addressing a press meet as he visited Kolkata for campaigning.
He also promised a 50 per cent reservation in the party portfolios for women, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes. He also proposed that no one will be able to stick to a particular chair for a period more than five years.
“We all wanted Rahul Gandhi to be unanimously elected as the Congress President. We also conveyed this to our leader, Sonia Gandhi. But she said that none from the Gandhi family will contest in the polls. I am contesting this election to uphold the great legacy of Congress’s ideology as well as to establish democracy in the entire country. I am contesting this election following the instructions of the leadership of my party,” Kharge said.
Meanwhile, the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) is yet to make any formal announcement on whether their support will be extended towards Kharge or the other contestant for the chair, Shashi Tharoor. According to state Congress President and veteran party Lok Sabha member, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the state Congress unit wanted Rahul Gandhi to be party’s national President.
“But that is not happening. We, on behalf of WBPCC, have welcomed Mallikarjun Kharge. Similarly, we will also welcome Shashi Tharoor who is coming to the state soon. However, we are yet to take any decision,” he said.
