New Delhi: Under the Chairmanship of Hon’ble Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge Ji, on December 21, 2023, we had a long Congress Working Committee meeting. CWC members, permanent invitees and special invitees, around 76 leaders from all over India participated in that meeting. Four hours, CWC discussed various issues:

1. About the last Assembly elections results.
2. The Parliament elections of 2024
3. The current political situation in the country, including the Parliament issues.

CWC unanimously adopted the resolution. Basically, the general mood of the CWC was to, we sincerely and genuinely evaluated the results of five elections. Telangana, we have won. One year before, we were in third position and in all the five Assembly by-elections, we lost the deposit in Telangana. We have won the Telangana election that was a remarkable achievement for the Congress Party. Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, we lost the elections. Even though we expected a better result from those states, we lost the elections.

General Secretaries and in-charge of the states explained about the election results, but we lost the election. We are admitting that it is actually a disappointment for the Party. But the Congress Party is very strong in all these three states. Our vote percentage is very much intact. There is no point worrying for facing a Parliament election that vote share is very clear. Therefore, we are going to focus on Parliament elections. Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge Ji has already declared the decisions. Parliament election candidates will be decided very soon, without any delay.

The Screening Committee is going to be constituted this month itself, Manifesto Committee is going to be constituted within one or two days. And Parliament-related all the election works, you know that we have already completed last three months, we are doing state-level reviews regarding the Parliament election. We already completed 23 states and the other 4 states, we are going to do this month itself. Therefore, all the states we have covered. Then January 2024 onwards, state-level workers’ conventions will be held in each state, which Congress President and other leaders also will address.

Basically, the mood of the country now is against the BJP. The way in which they are using in the elections, everybody knows that there is no level-playing field for the Opposition, not only for election in Parliament also, 146 MPs suspended from the Parliament. Actually, the intention of all these things is to give a message that only one party is there, eligible to rule this country. Those who are in the ‘Opposition’.

The beauty of the democracy is its government and with a strong Opposition, and with a vibrant media this is the beauty of the democracy. But unfortunately, this government doesn’t want Opposition, doesn’t want a vibrant media. It only wants a dictatorship… that is why this Parliament suspension is done. And agencies are having only one programme, one-point agenda - to make BJP win in the election and target the Opposition party leaders alone.

In this, all these aspects, we are very much committed, and we are very much convinced that Congress and the INDIA Alliance is going to fight against this dictatorship and rule. Parties are going to be completely in election mood without any delay. Then on December 28, our foundation day, we are doing a massive rally in Nagpur, which is going to be a remarkable event in the wake of this Parliament election. All the senior leaders of the Party will be attending that rally. Minimum 5 to 10 lakh people will be participating in this massive rally. We already requested all the Working Committee members to start immediately the election campaigns in their respective states also. Certainly, INDIA alliance parties will have a separate programme like all these things… that also INDIA alliance leaders will sit and decide very soon. Basically, the Working Committee is confident to inform the people of the country that with great vigour and hope, we are going to fight this Parliamentary election… this is what is the message of Congress Working Committee which I wanted to share.

Based on Press Briefing on December 21, 2023, by Shri K.C. Venugopal, General Secretary (Organisation) and Shri Jairam Ramesh, General Secretary (Communications) at AICC Hdqrs.