Congress says no Opposition unity possible without it

New Delhi: Ahead of its plenary this week, the Congress on Sunday said the party top brass will deliberate and give direction on ways to forge opposition unity during the three-day conclave, asserting that any such effort without it would be unsuccessful. The plenary session in Chhattisgarh's Nava Raipur will start from February 24 and is expected to be attended by around 15,000 delegates. 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), a demand made by some from within the organisation.

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. "The Congress has already taken the initiative and has been in touch with various political parties. There is a clear-cut initiative taken by the Congress in bringing opposition parties together and we will certainly bring them together against the BJP in the 2024 elections," Venugopal told a press conference here.

"The direction on opposition unity will come from the party's plenary session, where this issue will be deliberated upon," he said and added that the main job is to defeat the BJP in 2024. Venugopal said that this plenary is a reflection of the sentiments of the Bharat Jodo Yatra and an extension of the Udaipur Chintan Shivir. The plenary has been given the tagline "Haath se Haath Jodo" as it is happening in the midst of the party's countrywide "Haath se Haath Jodo" campaign, he said. Congress general secretary communications Jairam Ramesh said the party recognises that opposition unity is important and added that this issue will be deliberated upon at the plenary session.

"Nobody needs to give us a certificate that we have to lead because any opposition unity without the Congress will be unsuccessful. So we welcome the statement of Nitish Kumar, and as Venugopal ji has said this will be discussed in the plenary and whatever we have to do for the 2024 polls," he said at the press conference while taking a swipe at Bihar Chief Minister Kumar's statement that the Congress should take the initiative in bringing opposition unity. "But before that there are several assembly polls. But without a strong Congress, strong opposition unity is impossible," Ramesh said, amid talk of the opposition unitedly taking on the BJP in the general elections. The Congress welcomes the statement made by Chief Minister Kumar and "he has acknowledged that the Bharat Jodo Yatra has had an impact not only on the Congress but on Indian politics", he said.

"It is a tranformational moment for Indian politics, he has acknowledged," Ramesh said referring to Kumar's statement on the success of the Kanyakumari-Kashmir yatra that ended in Srinagar last month. "We welcome this and we know our role very well.