Cong says no opposition unity possible without it, Raipur plenary to give direction to such plans

The Congress on Sunday said the party top brass will deliberate and give direction on ways to strengthen opposition unity during the three-day plenary session to be held from February 24 in Raipur, asserting that any such effort without it would be unsuccessful. Congress general secretary organisation K C Venugopal said the party’s steering committee would meet on the first day of the session and decide whether elections would be held for the party’s top decision-making body — the Congress Working Committee (CWC).

The Congress knows its role in bringing together various opposition parties for forging an alliance ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to take on the BJP and oust it from power, he said.

It is a tranformational moment for Indian politics, he has acknowledged,” Ramesh said.

”We welcome this and we know our role very well. The Congress is the only political party that has never made a compromise with the BJP anywhere. There are some opposition parties who come for (Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition) Mallikarjun Kharge’s meetings but their actions are in favour of the ruling party. We are not two-faced with respect to the BJP,” he said.

The Congress is opposed to the BJP and it wants a joint parliamentary committee probe into the Adani issue, Ramesh said.

He said there would be deliberations on things such as whether there would be a pre-poll alliance or other such modalities, and pointed out that the Congress was in alliance with several parties in various states.

Venugopal said the agenda for the three-day 85th plenary session of the party from February 24 to 26 would be finalised in the steering committee meeting to be held on the first day and thereafter, the subjects committee will give final shape to it.

Around 15,000 delegates would participate in the plenary session and would deliberate on several issues including political, social, economic and those related to the youth.

Giving a break-up of the delegates, he said there are 1,338 All India Congress Committee delegates and 487 co-opted ones, which comes to a total of 1,825 delegates. Besides, there will be a total of 9,915 Pradesh Congress Committee delegates attending the session.

Party treasurer Pawan Kumar Bansal said the session will end with a public rally in Raipur, which top leaders will address.

Kumari Selja, who is the AICC general secretary in-charge for Chattisgarh, said of the total AICC delegates, there are 235 women and 501 below 50 years of age. Besides, there will be 704 from the general category, 228 from among minorities, 381 from other backward classes, 192 from among scheduled castes and another 133 from among the scheduled tribes.