Rahul to take decision on pre-poll and post-poll alliances

Rahul Gandhi as face of anti-BJP front

Warning for errant leaders?



BJP attacks institutions, dalits, tribals, backwards, minorities and poor: Rahul Gandhi

The "reverse countdown" of the Modi government has begun:

Sonia Gandhi

Government promoting a culture of constant self-praise and ‘jumlas’ as against solid policy framework:

Manmohan Singh

Congress can win 3 times more seats in 2019: Chidambaram

Congress has decided to play the role of suicide bomber: BJP

The extended CWC authorised Congress president Rahul Gandhi to forge an alliance with like-minded parties for the 2019 Lok Sabha election to take on the BJP.The party also authorised Gandhi to constitute a committee to work out alliances with various national and regional parties to form a grand national alliance.Thirty-five to 40 Congress leaders spoke at today's meeting where they all stressed that the Congress should play a lead role in forging an anti-BJP front.Some leaders said Gandhi being the leader of the principle opposition party should be the face of the national alliance.Asked about party leaders wanting Gandhi to be the face of the alliance, senior Congress leader Ambika Soni said, "Naturally, he is the leader of the main national (opposition) party and we would want our leader to be the face of the opposition alliance.""I am fighting bigger fights. Everyone has the right to speak in party forum but if a party leader gives a wrong statement and weakens this fight, I will not hesitate to take an action," news agency ANI quoted Rahul as saying after the CWC meet.Rahul, in his opening remark, reminded the party supporters "the role of Congress as the voice of India as also its responsibility of present and future."The Congress president also hit out at the BJP saying that the party "attacks institutions, dalits, tribals, backwards, minorities and poor". He also urged the Congressmen and women "to rise and fight for India's oppressed.""The new CWC is an institution comprising experience and energy and will act as a bridge between the past, present and the future," Rahul Gandhi said as he called upon Congressmen and women to rise and fight for India's oppressed.Former party president also criticised the Modi government and said the rhetoric of Prime Minister Narendra Modi shows his "desperation" reflecting that the "reverse countdown" of the Modi government has begun.In her address to the newly-constituted Congress Working Committee, which met for the first time under the chairmanship of party chief Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi also cautioned the people about the "reign of despair and fear" heaped upon India's deprived and poor."We have to rescue our people from a dangerous regime that is compromising with the democracy of India," she said.The former Congress president also extended her support to Rahul."We are committed to making alliances work and we are all with Congress President Rahul Gandhi in this endeavour," she added.Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also trained the guns at the ruling Centre and said, "It's a culture of constant self-praise and ‘jumlas’ as against solid policy framework for driving the engine of growth."He also raised question over Centre's promise of doubling farmers' income by 2022 and said the Modi government's claim will require an agricultural growth rate of 14 per cent "which is nowhere in sight."Singh further assured Rahul Gandhi that he and all other Congressmen will help him in the onerous task of restoring India's social harmony and economic development."I assure Rahul Gandhiji that we will fully support him in his onerous task of restoring India's social harmony and economic development," he said.Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram expressed confidence that the party can win three times more seats in the 2019 general elections by further boosting its presence in 12 states where it already has a strong foothold. The Congress currently has 48 members in the Lok Sabha.Addressing the Congress Working Committee, Chidambaram emphasised the need to strengthen the party's presence in the 12 states to boost up the numbers.Earlier this week, Rahul had rejigged the committee and dropped senior party leaders like Digvijaya Singh, Kamal Nath, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Mohan Prakash, CP Joshi and Shashi Tharoor from the committee. He also appointed some new members including Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasada, Tarun Gogoi, Siddaramaiah, Sheila Dikshit, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge.The new CWC includes 23 members, 19 permanent invitees, and nine special invitees.The CWC meeting comes just a few days after a joint opposition faced a decisive defeat from the ruling Narendra Modi government in the no-confidence motion vote held in Lok Sabha on July 20.Shortly after the conclusion of the CWC meet came a response from BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra.“The entire CWC meet can be summed up in two lines — ‘we don't want to win. We have to stop Modi’,” he said during a press conference."On one hand, positive politics of Modi is leading the country towards growth and prosperity, on the other hand, under Rahul Gandhi's leadership, the Congress is busy promoting a negative politics."The Congress has decided to play the role of a suicide bomber," he said.Patra also slammed Sonia Gandhi's reverse countdown comment, saying that it was Sonia Gandhi who under her leadership had been running the country in reverse gear all these years.The BJP spokesperson, referring to Rahul's hug and wink during the debate on no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha on Friday, also responded to Sonia Gandhi's political rhetoric statement."The politics of 'hug and wink' is the biggest politics of rhetoric," he retorted.