The Congress party is all set to blow the bugle for the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bastion Gujarat today (March 12). The high profile key meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) in Ahmedabad on Tuesday will kick-start its campaign to give final shape to the party's road map and election strategy for this summer's Lok Sabha polls.
The day-long meeting of the CWC, the party's highest decision-making body, comes just two days after the Election Commission declared the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections. This CWC is also significant as it marks the debut of Congress General Secretary and star campaigner Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. In January, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was given the charge of the party's fortune in 41 constituencies of Uttar Pradesh.
This will be the first CWC to be hosted by Gujarat in six decades – the last was held in the state at Bhavnagar in 1961. The Congress is looking to send out a strong political message to the entire nation from the land of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other senior party leaders will be at the meeting, which was postponed after the Pulwama terror attack on February 14, that killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers followed by the Indian Air Force strikes across the Line of Control on a Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror outfit in Balakot sector.
The meeting on March 12 - which marks the anniversary of famous Dandi March by Mahatma Gandhi from the Sabarmati Ashram in 1930 to challenge the British authority in India - will adopt resolutions related to prevailing political and security conditions in our nation.
Congress leaders started the day with a prayer meeting at the Gandhi Ashram in Sabarmati. Besides, 2019 is also being celebrated as the 150th birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation. They also paid tribute to soldiers at a memorial and then proceeded to the Sardar Patel National Memorial for the CWC meeting. It will talk about the critical issues of unemployment, agrarian distress, price rise, Rafale jet fighter deal, alleged banks frauds involving fugitives Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, and the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
A massive Jan Sankalp rally -- 'Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan' -- has also been organised in the afternoon in Gandhinagar. Patidar leader Hardik Patel, who shot to fame by spearheading a quota stir in Gujarat, is set to join the Congress in the presence of Rahul Gandhi today.
