In her first official meeting, the Congress’s newly appointed general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday told her party colleagues she had vowed to fight the ideology of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The Congress general secretary for Uttar Pradesh east was attending a meeting of general secretaries and state incharges at the party headquarters at 24, Akbar Road.
In her first intervention at the meeting, she said the “ideology and thought process” of the RSS-BJP combine needed to be countered, according to three functionaries present at the meeting. Priyanka Gandhi, 47, also said she is new and inexperienced but asserted that she will give her best.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi, for his part, said he did not expect a “miracle” from Priyanka Gandhi and Jyotiraditya Scindia, party general secretary incharge of Uttar Pradesh west, in two months, and that they should not feel any pressure.
However, he asked them to lay the structure for a Congress revival and make it fighting fit for the 2022 assembly elections in the state.
Congress general secretary incharge of the organisation KC Venugopal said Rahul Gandhi gave a clear direction to general secretaries and state incharges about the preparedness for the 2019 general elections.
“We discussed the process of selection of candidates, campaign strategy and alliances, wherever necessary. All our general secretaries and incharges have given their views about their respective states. Finally, we have given an ultimatum that selection of candidates should be completed this month itself,” he told reporters.
Venugopal said the Congress president met Priyanka Gandhi and Scindia on Thursday morning, when it was decided that the three will go to Lucknow on February 11 and stay there till February 14.
“They will go in a procession from the airport to the party office in Lucknow. The general secretaries will interact with Congress leaders and workers of Uttar Pradesh from February 12 at the party office in Lucknow,” he added.
Rahul Gandhi said the party should not give tickets to sitting Rajya Sabha members and legislators unless unavoidable. In response to a question from Scindia, the Congress president also told the leaders to avoid giving tickets to those who have lost elections more than once.
Jharkhand incharge RPN Singh said the party should make realistic promises, rather than “jumlas and false dreams as sold by the BJP”.