Congress kept India united, Gandhi family kept party intact: DK Shivakumar

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Saturday said India has remained united because of the Congress and the Gandhi family has kept the party together as he urged party workers to contribute as a team to ensure the exit of the BJP in 2029.

He also urged the lawyers community to help protect the right to vote of every Indian by creating legal banks in every constituency, as suggested by Rahul Gandhi.

"Congress' history is country's history, Congress' strength is country's strength. The Gandhi family has kept the Congress family united and the Congress has kept the country united. Otherwise our country would have been broken into various pieces," he said.

Shivakumar was addressing the valedictory function of the day-long national legal conclave on 'Constitutional Challenges: Perspectives and Pathways'.

The eight-time legislator from Karnataka recalled the days when he was lodged in Tihar jail and lauded the role played by lawyers in helping him come out of it.

He also thanked Sonia Gandhi for visiting him in Tihar jail when he was there and make him the Karnataka Congress chief after that helped the party break the "double engine government" in the state.

"This is not just a political agenda, we all have to join together. Joining together is the beginning and all of you teaming together is progress. You all have to work together and again in 2029 you have to bring back the country back to shape," Shivakumar said as he exhorted workers to come together to fight the BJP.

"With lot of commitment, the Congress party has saved this country, the day is not far. You all have to have a proper agenda and in 2029 you should see when Rahul Gandhi becomes the prime minister of the country. This is what your commitment should be," he said.

He also lauded the "sacrifice" made by Sonia Gandhi to make Manmohan Singh the prime minister.

The Karnataka deputy chief minister said the message by Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge at the conclave was clear that when our Constitution and our right to vote are in big danger, all lawyers who believe in democracy and Constitution have to create a legal bank in every assembly and district, to protect and save the right of every voter.

"This is what he is starting his voice on August 5 in Freedom Park in Karnataka," he said about the details of Rahul Gandhi's programme of providing information on alleged anomalies in the voter lists in one constituency in Karnataka that has been investigated by the Congress workers there.