Patna: As it gets battle-ready for the Bihar polls, the Congress will hold a meeting of its working committee here on Wednesday, for the first time in the state in the post-Independence era, to brainstorm on the election strategy and ramp up its attack against the BJP over alleged “vote chori”.
It would be an extended Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, with permanent and special invitees, the party’s chief ministers, Pradesh Congress Committee presidents and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leaders participating.
Sources said a couple of resolutions are expected to be passed at the crucial meeting, with an eye on the upcoming Bihar polls.
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The CWC meeting will be held at 10 am at Sadaqat Ashram here. This is the first time in the post-Independence era that the Congress is holding a meeting of its top-decision making body in Bihar, according to party leaders.
All top leaders, including party president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi, would be present at the meeting.
Kharge, Congress general secretaries Jairam Ramesh and K C Venugopal, along with several other CWC members, have already arrived here.
The focus of the deliberations is likely to be on Bihar, the party’s campaign strategy, future polls and ramping up the attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over “vote chori” (vote theft), the sources said.
They said a strong message will be sent out by the CWC on the “vote chori” issue and against the Election Commission’s (EC) Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar.
The meeting comes amid seat-sharing talks between the Mahagathbandhan allies and just days after Gandhi’s “Voter Adhikar Yatra” against “vote chori” and the SIR that has enthused the party’s rank and file in the state.
The meeting also comes days after Gandhi held its second press conference on “vote chori”, stepping up his attack on the issue.
The leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha has accused Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar of protecting those who “destroyed democracy”. To buttress his allegation, he has cited data from a Karnataka Assembly constituency to claim that the votes of Congress supporters were being systematically deleted.
The EC has dubbed the allegations “incorrect and baseless”.
At a press conference here on Monday, AICC Bihar in-charge Krishna Allavaru asserted that the Congress is fighting “the second war of Independence” in Bihar, a reason why the meeting has been scheduled in the state.
He alleged that the ruling BJP at the Centre is involved in “vote theft” and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “like a student who does not study hard, but takes recourse to unfair means for doing well in examinations”.
Asserting that Bihar has become “the centre of national politics”, Allavaru said, “We are fighting the second war of Independence in the state, a reason why the CWC meeting is being held here.”
Replying to another query, he said the talks on seat-sharing among the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) constituents are being held on a positive note.
“We will soon come out with a viable formula. On the other hand, we find the BJP-led NDA in disarray,” Allavaru said.
On whether Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav will be named as the INDIA bloc’s chief ministerial candidate with a stamp of approval from the Congress, he said, “At an appropriate time, all alliance partners will sit together and decide.”
Bihar Congress president Rajesh Kumar has hailed the upcoming CWC meeting as a historic event, pointing out that this is the first time such a meeting is taking place in the state in the post-Independence era.
“It is a historic moment for us that Sadaqat Ashram, where people like Mahatma Gandhi, Rajendra Prasad and Jawaharlal Nehru have held deliberations, is getting a chance to host the CWC meeting,” he said.
The Bihar Congress has put up the party flag at several places in preparation for the meeting.
The Assembly polls in the state are likely to be held in November.
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