Thousands throng Tamil Nadu Congress HQ to welcome Kharge

CHENNAI: Congress presidential candidate Mallikarjun Kharge visited the party’s state unit headquarters, Sathyamoorthi Bhavan, on Friday to mobilise support of PCC members for his candidature.

Thousands of functionaries and cadre thronged the party headquarters to give a rousing welcome to Kharge. He thanked the party’s State leaders for showing their support for his candidature. During his address, to debunk the talk that he was the candidate of the Gandhi family, he said he decided to contest in the election to oblige the request of many Congress leaders and cadre. 

On his qualification for the post, he said he served the party for over five decades, reached the position of the party’s Rajya Sabha floor leader and never lost an election between 1972 and 2019. 

He said he wanted to fight the policies of the BJP government at the Centre, increasing unemployment, declining GDP, falling of the rupee and other issues, not fellow Congress leaders (referring to his rival Shashi Tharoor). On his poll promises, he termed the Udaipur Declaration as the Congress manifesto and promised to strictly implement the declaration if he got elected Congress president. 

On the relevancy of the Congress in the prevailing political arena, he said the Congress protected the Constitution and democracy of India, created industries and infrastructures such as ports, airports and railway, and premier education institutions such as IIT, IIM and AIIMS. He alleged that the Modi-led BJP government at the Centre sought to destroy the country and sold off all national properties.

Former TNCC presidents Su Thirunavukkarasar, EVKS Elangovan and KV Thankabalu and former Assembly floor leader KR Ramasamy were among those present.