Congress will retain power in Meghalaya, says Rahul Gandhi

After giving the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a good fight in Gujarat, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said the ruling Congress party will retain power in Meghalaya.

He also expressed confidence that the Congress would bounce back in BJP-ruled Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh where elections are due in a few months from now.

"I think we will do well and we will win the elections in Meghalaya," he said in an informal interaction with journalists here.

"I won't go into specifics as to how many seats and things like, but across the country there is a feeling that the BJP is not listening to the people...it is crushing voices, they are taking decisions unilaterally without consulting the people and there is a backlash against them on several issues.

"Demonetisation is one of them. Implementation of GST is another one. The country is asking these fundamental questions to (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi. He came promising economic growth and providing jobs. But after he came to power, the economy is on a downturn and there are hardly any jobs being created," Gandhi said.

Therefore, he said, there was a feeling in the country that they didn't get what was promised to them. "Same is in Meghalaya as well."

Gandhi, who concluded his two-day visit to poll-bound Meghalaya on Wednesday, held a series of interactions with various religious leaders -- Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and indigenous faith believers and traditional chieftains, besides academicians.

He also noted that there was tremendous anger against and discomfort from the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) over "imposing one idea" in India, as "people believe this country is made up of millions of different perspectives and one perspective will not work here".

Recalling that Modi criticised pro-poor policies of the Congress-led UPA government, including the MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act), Gandhi hit out at the Prime Minister for his failure to create two crore new jobs every year and instead could create only 450 new jobs.

"I get a sense that there is strong opposition against the BJP government. Look at the results in Gujarat...they were close to losing the elections. And who did that? It was Congress.

"Therefore, the BJP-ruled states are on the back foot. We are going to have elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan... Let us see who wins. We are confident we will win," Gandhi stressed.

Asked if the Congress would launch an aggressive campaign in Meghalaya and other poll-bound states as it did in Gujarat, the Congress President said: "Our campaign in Gujarat was truth. I was surprised myself because I hadn't realised that even the people of the state did not believe in Modi's Gujarat model."

--IANS

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