Congress Lok Sabha Elections 2019 Campaign Updates: Priyanka makes first political speech, Rahul attacks Modi over Rafale

Rahul says Modi govt favouring people like Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi because they fund his advertisements

“There are two India today, one belongs to Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Narendra Modi and the other #India belongs to farmers and small traders like you,” Rahul Gandhi said during the Jan Sankalp Rally at Adalaj near Gandhinagar.

“London has written many letters to India about sending Nirav Modi back but got no response. Narendra Modi calls Anil Ambani, Nirav Modi and others “bhai”. They fund his advertisements, so they will always be favoured,” he said.

Rahul says Congress will implement ‘guaranteed minimum income’ when it comes to power

“Congress will form the 2019 government and implement ‘guaranteed minimum income’ for all states. The money will directly reach every bank account.” Congress president Rahul Gandhi said.

Rahul says Modi govt should admit BJP sent Masood Azhar to Pakistan

“Who sent Masood Azhar to Pakistan? It was BJP government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Ajit Doval was an escort for Azhar while taking him to Kandahar. The person who killed 40 CRPF jawans was sent by the BJP government to Pakistan. Congress government had sent the JeM chief behind bars,” Rahul Gandhi said at the rally.

Rahul Gandhi targets Modi govt over unemployment

“The biggest problem being faced in India is unemployment. Narendra Modi talks about Start Up India and Make in India but the truth is that the youth of the country is going to other countries in search of jobs,” Rahul Gandhi said while addressing the public meeting.

Priyanka slams Centre in first political speech

“You will have to think what exactly is this election. What are you going to choose in this election? You are going to choose your future. Useless issues should not be raised,” said Priyanka Gandhi, as she lashed out at the Modi government.

Your vote is a weapon, Priyanka tells crowd

“There is no greater act of patriotism than raising your awareness. Your vote is a weapon, but it’s a weapon which isn’t meant to hurt anyone. I want to urge you to think and take a decision. The one who makes big claims, ask him where are the jobs, and the Rs 15 lakh that was supposed to reach every citizens banks,” said Priyanka Gandhi.

Was almost in tears when I visited Sabarmati Ashram, says Priyanka

“I was thinking that I won’t be required to give a speech. But I’ll keep this short. This is the first time I’ve come to Gujarat and it’s the first time when I visited Sabarmati Ashram. I can’t express how I felt sitting under the trees and listening to bhajans. I was almost in tears as I thought about the soldiers who’re guarding this country,” said Priyanka Gandhi, on her maiden visit to Gujarat after joining active politics.

Priyanka Gandhi begins address

Ahmed Patel, Mallikarjun Kharge, Hardik Patel, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Jyotiraditya Scindia are among those present at the rally venue.

Rally takes off with BJP takedown

The Congress’s official Twitter handle is streaming the party’s Jan Sankalp rally at Adalaj. Several leaders important at the national level are supposed to speak at the gathering, which is being considered as the official kick-off for the Congress’s poll campaign.

Initial speakers have all focused on the BJP’s inability to manage the terror situation in the country.

Gujarat Congress leaders address crowds

Gujarat Congress leaders are addressing the gathered crowds first amid cheers of “Congress zindabad” and “Rahul Gandhi zindabad".  

Special mention is made of former prime minister Manmohan Singh, who is on the stage at Adalaj.

Rahul, Priyanka, Sonia reach Jan Sankalp rally venue

Top brass of the Congress party, including Priyanka Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, along with former prime minister Manmohan Singh are on the dais. 

Jaitley hits out at Congress’s approach towards national security

In yet another Facebook blog post, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley wrote that the Congress, by starting to go soft on terror, has “started an appeasement of terror.” 

“The low point in Congress party’s attitude towards separatism and terror was reached when a combination of separatists, jehadis and Maoists ganged up to raise slogans on ‘Desh ke tukde tukde’ at New Delhi’s JNU, the Congress president Rahul Gandhi stood shoulder to shoulder with them to defend their right of free speech to champion the cause of breaking India into pieces. He deviated from the Congress legacy of not associating with these extremists. Once the identification of Congressmen with the Maoists and the separatists was signalled by Rahul Gandhi, it was natural for Congressmen and their friends to support the cause of ‘urban Maoists’ who were allegedly conspiring to assassinate India’s Prime Minister,” Jaitley wrote.

Adalaj grounds see hundreds of Congress supporters

Former president of the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee, Arjun Modhwadia, tweeted out images of huge crowds waiting at Adalaj Trimandir ground. 

Party chief Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to address the crowds, its general secretary Priyanka Gandhi is also likely to speak at the rally. 

‘Rahul has specified the idea of India conceived by great freedom fighters’

“In his speech, Rahul Gandhi specified that the idea of India conceived by Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and other great freedom fighters is now being diluted,” Congress leader Anand Sharma said after the CWC meet.

Unemployment more important than terror: Rahul Gandhi

“We will focus on unemployment and not terror. Terror is not the main issue for the 2019 polls,” Rahul Gandhi was reported by News18 has having said.

Crowds gather at Adalaj

Meanwhile, enthusiastic crowds have already gathered at Gandhinagar to listen to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s address. 

RSS wasn’t at Dandi March: Divya Spandana

The RSS did not participate in the Dandi March, noted Congress’s IT cell head Divya Spandana on Tuesday.

Congress will convey it has credibility, conviction: Anand Sharma

“We will approach our people with humility, conveying that what the Congress says has credibility and conviction. Right from MGNREGA, we have honoured what we have promised,” said party spokesperson Anand Sharma. 

“Immediately after Congress governments took oaths of office, the first decisions that the Congress governments took was to waive the loans of farmers, as was promised by Congress president Rahul Gandhi,” he added.

CWC meeting concludes, leaders head out

Leaders troop out as the Congress Working Committee meeting at Sardar Patel Smarak concludes. 

Congress Working Committee meeting ends, party holds press conference

“Democratic rights of the Indian people are being attacked every day, as is the idea of India envisioned by the likes of Jawaharlal Nehru,” says the Congress, after the CWC meeting. 

“We remembered the brave Indian jawans who gave their lives for the country,” it added, saying it is unfortunate that the prime minister of the country is playing a game with people’s emotions for the polls.

Mayawati closes mahagathbandhan chapter in UP

BSP leader Mayawati published a statement, making it clear that her party will not be tying up with the Congress, on Tuesday.

No alliance with Congress in any state: Mayawati

BSP chief Mayawati’s insistence that her party will not enter into any alliance with the Congress party “in any state to contest the upcoming elections” comes in the backdrop of the CWC meeting in Gujarat. 

The BSP and SP have forged an alliance, believed to be benign to the Congress, in Uttar Pradesh. 

Jaiveer Shergill shares photos from Gandhi Ashram

Lawyer and Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill, who told News18 that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, only “ache din” of terrorists and separatists and “bure din” of our jawans have come, also tweeted from the prayer meet.

Jaiveer Shergill shares photos from Gandhi Ashram

Lawyer and Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill, who told News18 that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, only “ache din” of terrorists and separatists and “bure din” of our jawans have come, also tweeted from the prayer meet.

Mayawati closes doors to Congress

The Bahujan Samaj Party-Samajwadi Party alliance is based on mutual respect and it is a formidable one, said BSP supremo Mayawati in a statement on Tuesday, closing the doors on a BSP-Congress alliance in any state.

Deepa Dasmunsi may have met Mukul Roy, say reports

Unconfirmed reports have said Congress leader Deepa Dasmunsi is likely to have met BJP leader Mukul Roy on Monday. Dasmunsi, it is widely being reported, will be joining the BJP on Tuesday. 

She was the Union Minister of State for Urban Development in the UPA government of 2010-2014 and represented the Raiganj constituency in West Bengal.

Congress advocates tenets of secularism: Nadeem Javed

Among Congress leaders who tweeted from the sidelines of the prayer meet at the Sabarmati Ashram on Tuesday was the Congress’s Minority Department’s chairman, Nadeem Javed.

“The Congress strongly advocates the tenets of secularism, equality and social justice for every section,” he wrote.

Four Congress MLAs quit in a month, join BJP in Gujarat

Hours before the Congress Working Committee (CWC) met here in Ahmedabad, a rumour about Congress legislator Santok Aarethiya from Rapar (Kutch) resigning spread like wildfire. The legislator, however, disregarded the news immediately and termed it as BJP’s poll gimmick, accusing the saffron party of spreading rumours.

However, the way in which the BJP has launched its ‘Operation Lotus’ and started poaching Congress MLAs, people seldom have reasons to disbelieve such rumours.

As many as four Congress legislators — Jawahar Chavda, Parshottam Sabariya, Vallabh Dharaviya and Ashaben Patel — have resigned from the grand old party and joined the BJP in the past month, suggesting that Operation Lotus is headed to retain all 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat.

Congress Election Committee to meet at Sonia’s residence

A meeting of the Central Election Committee of the Congress party will be held on 14 March, at the residence of UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi in Delhi, reported ANI.

Hopeful of Congress in Gujarat: Hardik 

Patidar leader Hardik Patil who is set to join the Congress on Tuesday told News18 that he was “hopeful of the way the CWC happened in Gujarat after many years.”

Hardik will speak at a big rally in Adalaj later in the day 

Congress’ indecision to make BJP’s return possible?

Going by the prevalent narrative, the mood of the nation and the bad mood of the Opposition, the jingle should have ended with this message: Congress hai to sambhav hai. (Congress can make anything possible.) The BJP is starting the election with a huge advantage. For that, apart from its own realpolitik, it needs to credit the Congress.

Three months ago, when the Congress won Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the party seemed to have the force with it. Opinion polls were predicting a near rout for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh and impressive gains for the Congress in the three states it had won. Buoyed by the sentiment, the Congress felt achche din aane wale hain. All that is history now, highlighted by two things: the confusion within the Congress and the mysterious case of Priyanka Gandhi, who, to use another Rahul Gandhi potshot, gaayab ho gayee hai (has disappeared).

Leaving Congress against father’s wishes: Sujay Vikhe Patil

Sujay Vikhe Patil, son of Maharashtra Congress leader Radhakrishna, said he has taken the decision to join BJP against his father’s wishes.

CWC meeting draws to close

The first CWC meet in Gujarat since 1958 has drawn to a close. Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted that his party has, “resolved to defeat the RSS and BJP ideology of fascism, hatred, anger and divisiveness. No sacrifice is too great in this endeavour; no effort too little; this battle will be won.”

Sonia slams PM Modi at CWC meeting

“People are victims but it is Prime Minister Modi who is playing the victim card,” said UPA chairman Sonia Gandhi at the CWC meeting of the Congress. In a stern rebuke to the ruling dispensation, Sonia hit out at Modi and said terror attacks have been politicised under Modi’s rule.

Deepa Dasmunsi set to leave Congress, claim reports

Congress’s Raiganj MP Deepa Dasmunsi is set to leave the party and join the BJP later on Tuesday, reports News18. She was the Union Minister of State for Urban Development until May 2014. 

 She is the wife of late Congress leader Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi.

CWC meeting underway: Rahul, Sonia seen speaking

The meeting of the Congress party’s highest decision-making body, the CWC, is currently underway. Leaders Rahul Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi are seen speaking in visuals tweeted out by the Congress’s official Twitter handle. 

Mahatma Gandhi had disdain for Congress culture, writes PM Modi

As the Congress party leaders met at Sabarmati Ashram to commemorate the anniversary of the historic Dandi March started on this day in 1930, by Mahatma Gandhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi published a blog post on the occasion and tweeted about it.

He notably sought to focus attention on “his (Mahatma Gandhi’s) disdain for the Congress culture”. 

“Ironically, the Congress gave the nation the Emergency, when our democratic spirit was trampled over. The Congress misused Article 356 several times. If they did not like a leader, that Government was dismissed. Always eager to promote dynastic culture, Congress has no regard for democratic values.

Gandhi Ji had understood the Congress culture very well, which is why he wanted the Congress disbanded, especially after 1947,” Modi wrote in his blog.

Congress factor to rest on Priyanka, anti-incumbency in Uttar Pradesh

As it becomes increasingly clear that Uttar Pradesh, the state with the maximum number of Lok Sabha seats, heads for a triangular fight in the upcoming general elections, the focus has shifted to the ‘Congress factor’. 

How will this factor work in the state where 80 seats are at stake? Will it be an advantage for the BJP as it gears up for its biggest electoral challenge against the united opposition of SP-BSP-RLD, or will it benefit the ‘Gathbandhan’?

Is the original calculation of a weak Congress just chipping into the BJP’s votebank still relevant or has it changed post Priyanka Gandhi’s mega entry in UP’s political arena and the party’s intention of going big in the state’s electoral battle?

According to political experts, the ‘Congress factor’ could be a double-edged sword. While it may inflict larger damage on the BJP, the party’s resurgence can also be a cause of concern for the ‘Gathbandhan’ on several seats.

UPA has better track record of maintaining national security: Jaiveer Shergill

Jaiveer Shergill, one of the Congress’s spokespersons, told News18 that the UPA has had a much better track record of maintaining national security than the NDA. 

In the conversation that took place on the sidelines of the party’s CWC meeting in Ahmedabad, Shergill stressed that his party would prioritise national security above all else.