THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Congress is the sole opposition party to have its presence across the country, senior leader A K Antony has said. Speaking after inaugurating the platinum jubilee celebrations of INTUC in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday, he said at least 10 Congress workers could be seen in any village in the country. But that alone does not make the Congress come to power, said Antony. However, he exuded confidence that the Chintan Shibir being held in Rajasthan on May 13 -15 will chalk out the political strategies to defeat those in power.
“All big and small political parties should unite to dethrone the BJP government at the Centre which has been working against the interests of the people. It is the Congress which should lead the move, but certain people say that the BJP can be ousted without our party’s help,” said Antony. He also said top national leader Rahul Gandhi stayed away from the INTUC programme after he got a large number of complaints against the trade union’s state president, R Chandrasekharan.
It was the first programme Antony attended in the state after he shifted his base to Thiruvananthapuram from Delhi recently. Congress state president K Sudhakaran said CPM can only be seen as a foe as its leaders are known for their double standards. Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan was conspicuous by his absence, but party sources told TNIE that he was busy with talks on the Thrikkakara by-election candidature. Earlier, INTUC national president G Sanjiva Reddy inaugurated the state committee office of the union at Paruthikuzhi. The event was presided by Chandrasekharan.