NEW DELHI: Rejecting allegations regarding the Shashi Tharoor rift, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday asserted that the party’s Kerala leaders “stand as one” and were “united” by the light of purpose ahead.
Gandhi reacted with this assertion following a meeting of the Congress’s top brass from Kerala at ‘Indira Bhawan’ here for a brainstorming session on Friday to discuss the strategy and the way forward ahead of next year’s assembly elections.
The Congress leader posted a picture of the media byte by Kerala leaders after the meeting and said in a Facebook post that they “stand as one, united by the light of purpose ahead”. His post was accompanied by the hashtag “Team Kerala".
The nearly three-hour meeting at the Congress’s Indira Bhawan headquarters here had discipline, unity and strengthening of the state organisation as its running theme.
Sources in the Congress are reported to have said that at the meeting, Gandhi asked that the leaders should be very careful about the political strategy and should not do or say anything that does not toe the party line.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had laid stress on discipline, ensuring unity and filling up the vacant posts to strengthen the party’s Kerala unit.
Besides Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, AICC general secretary KC Venugopal, Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Kerala Congress chief K Sudhakaran, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader in the Kerala Assembly VD Satheesan, Thiruvananthapuram MP Tharoor and AICC in-charge of Kerala Deepa Dasmunshi, among others, attended the meeting.
Talking to reporters after the meeting Deepa Dasmunshi said, “We got a clear indication from our high command that the Congress is very much connected with the people of Kerala emotionally and politically. People are looking for a change, so we should not do anything that will disrespect the people of Kerala.” She went on to add that this was a clear indication and if anyone (says) anything personally, “we will take strong action, because we have no right to disrespect the people of Kerala”.