THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a bid to counter the BJP’s Christian appeasement, the Congress has decided to deploy a team of its senior leaders to meet bishops and other community leaders. The party’s political affairs committee (PAC), which met on Thursday, also decided to host a mega youth event of its own in Kochi in May -- to be led by Rahul Gandhi and attended by one lakh youth -- in an apparent response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Yuvam youth conclave, set for April 24.
The 21-member PAC meeting initially conceded that the Christian community, a traditional vote bank of the Congress, has started drifting away.
Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan maintained that bishops have been endorsing the BJP in light of its campaign to paint the Congress in bad light -- as having no chance of returning to power. He maintained that the saffron party’s meetings with community leaders have been a continuing exercise.
Senior MP K Muraleedharan intervened, retorting that it was the party national leadership’s statements that had conveyed the wrong message. There were media reports from New Delhi that said the Congress will focus on 250 Lok Sabha seats, with an aim to win 150 of them, when the simple majority in the House is 272.
A senior PAC leader told TNIE the party has decided to take up the campaign to win back the trust of the minorities. “The high-level meeting has decided to hold exhibitions, documentaries and photo exhibitions across the state on the atrocities meted out to minorities under the BJP government. We want to expose their crimes before the general public,” the leader said.
Muraleedharan then proceeded to voice his backing for state president K Sudhakaran, burying their differences over the former being sidelined at the Vaikom Satyagraha centenary celebrations. This had led to senior ‘A’ group leaders targeting the Congress chief.
“Senior ‘A’ group leaders, including M M Hassan, K C Joseph and Benny Behanan, alleged that Sudhakaran has been unilateral in his decision-making, and has not been taking other party leaders into confidence,” a PAC member said. The second edition of the ‘Nava Sankalp Chintan Shivir’ will be held on May 9-10 at Charalkunnu, Pathanamthitta. It is being touted as Sudhakaran’s dream initiative, aimed at announcing a master plan for the 2024 Lok Sabha election.