CWC meeting: Rahul gets mandate to form alliances with like-minded parties

CWC authorises Gandhi to constitute a committee to work out alliances with various national and regional parties to form a grand national alliance

The extended Congress Working Committee (CWC) on Sunday authorised Congress president Rahul Gandhi to forge an alliance with like-minded parties for the 2019 Lok Sabha election to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
 
The decision was taken at a meeting of the newly-constituted Congress Working Committee (CWC), Pradesh Congress Committee chiefs and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) members from various states.

The party also authorised Gandhi to constitute a committee to work out alliances with various national and regional parties to form a grand national alliance.



Thirty-five to 40 leaders spoke at today's CWC meeting where they all stressed that the Congress should play a lead role in forging an anti-BJP front.
 
Some leaders said Gandhi being the leader of the principle opposition party should be the face of the national alliance.
 
Asked about party leaders wanting Gandhi to be the face of the alliance, senior Congress leader Ambika Soni said, "Naturally, he is the leader of the main national (opposition) party and we would want our leader to be the face of the opposition alliance."

Senior party leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram gave a detailed presentation on how the party could be strengthened with the help of allies in various states.
 
Sources said that Chidambaram highlighted that the Congress is strong in 12 states and with the help of its allies, it can forge a formidable front in the 2019 general election.

What Rahul Gandhi said in the CWC meeting

Congress president Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack at the BJP-led government as he chaired the meeting of the recently-constituted Congress Working Committee.This is Congress president's first CWC meet after taking over the rein of the Sonia Gandhi.
 
During the meeting held in Parliament Annexe Building, Rahul, in his opening remark, reminded the party supporters "the role of Congress as the voice of India as also its responsibility of present and future."

Rahul also hit out at the BJP saying that the party "attacks institutions, dalits, tribals, backwards, minorities and poor". He also urged the Congressmen and women "to rise and fight for India's oppressed."
 
He further described the CWC as "institution comprising experience and energy, as a bridge between the past, present and the future."
 
What Sonia Gandhi said in the CWC meeting
 
Former Congress president and UPA chairman Sonia Gandhi also criticised the Modi government and said the "reign of despair and fear heaped upon India's deprived and poor."
 
She further slammed the central government for its "failures" and said, "the rhetoric of PM Modi shows his desperation reflecting that reverse countdown of the Modi government has begun."
 
Manmohan Singh remarks in CWC meeting
 
Former prime minister Manmohan Singh also trained guns at the ruling Centre and said, "It's a culture of constant self-praise and jumlas as against solid policy framework for driving the engine of growth."
 
He also raised question over Centre's promise of doubling farmers' income by 2022 and said the Modi government's claim will require an agricultural growth rate of 14 per cent "which is nowhere in sight."


 
Structure of Congress Working Committee (CWC)
 
Earlier this week, Rahul rejigged the committee and dropped senior party leaders like Digvijaya Singh, Kamal Nath, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Mohan Prakash, CP Joshi and Shashi Tharoor from the committee. He also appointed some new members including Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasada, Tarun Gogoi, Siddaramaiah, Sheila Dikshit, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge.

 
The new CWC includes 23 members, 19 permanent invitees, and nine special invitees.
 
The CWC meeting comes just a few days after a joint opposition faced a decisive defeat from the ruling Narendra Modi government in the no-confidence motion vote held in Lok Sabha on July 20.