Extended CWC meeting in Patna

· Congress rues Modi’s diplomatic, domestic failures
· Expresses concern over state promoted polarisation
· Says, constitutional institutions under continuous attack
· Party to submit 5 crore signatures to ECI seeking answers: KC Venugopal
· GST reforms half-baked: Jairam Ramesh

PATNA :  The Congress today held the extended Working Committee meeting here which was presided over by the party president Mallikarjun Kharge.
It was attended among others by the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, general secretary organization KC Venugopal, general secretary communications Jairam Ramesh and other senior leaders including the CWC members, the PCC presidents and the CLP leaders.

Later briefing reporters, KC Venugopal, along with Jairam Ramesh, Pawan Khera, Krishna Allavaru and others said, there was a thorough and threadbare discussion on strengthening of organisation, domestic and international situation in context of India and the ensuing Bihar elections.
Venugopal recalled how about a month ago the BJP workers had attacked the Sadakat Ashram, the Bihar Congress headquarters. He said, today a strong message had gone across with people exuding confidence, energy and enthusiasm.
He said, organizational issues related to ‘Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan’ came under discussion and 51 leaders participated in it.
He said, the issue of vote theft received special focus and the CWC members congratulated the Bihar leaders for the massive success of the ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’, which created a big buzz all over the country.

“The slogan ‘Vote Chor, Gaddi Chhodd’ has spread across the nation”, he remarked, while congratulating the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar and the PCC for doing a great job.
He said the party has already launched a nationwide signature campaign from September 15, which will continue till October 15. He said, 5 crore signatures will be submitted to the Election Commission of India seeking its answers on ‘vote-theft’.
He said, under the ‘Sangathan Srijan programme’, the entire party rank and file including the common workers are involved in the decision-making process of appointing the District Congress Committee presidents. DCC presidents will be having more powers than earlier, he added.
He said the process started from Gujarat and has been completed in four states and 144 DCC presidents have been appointed so far. He said, ten states will be covered in the first phase.
Underlining the importance the party was according to the selection process of the DCC presidents, he said, former union ministers, PCC presidents and general secretaries were being assigned as district observers.

Speaking about the political resolution passed unanimously in the CWC, Jairam Ramesh said the issue of ‘Vote Chori’ (vote theft) had come up. He disclosed that Rahul Gandhi told the meeting that in next one month, ‘mini hydrogen bomb’, ‘hydrogen bomb’, ‘uranium and plutonium bombs’ will be coming.
He pointed out, the beginning had been made with the Mahadevapura and Aland assembly segments in Karnataka. He said the ECI had turned into a puppet in the hands of the Prime Minister and the union Home Minister.

Jairam Ramesh said, the government had completely failed on the diplomatic front and the friends of the Prime Minister have created a difficult situation for the country. He pointed out, after America and China, now Saudi Arabia had also signed a security pact with Pakistan.

On the GST announcements made by the Prime Minister, Jairam Ramesh said, these were half-baked reforms. He said, even these reforms were brought in after the pressure built up by the Congress, which had been demanding these for the last eight years. He pointed out, Rahul Gandhi had described it as ‘Gabbar Singh Tax’ in the very beginning.
He said, the issues of communal polarisation, social justice and caste census also came up for discussion. He asked why Modi was not granting constitutional validity to 65 percent reservation in Bihar? He said, in strong contrast, the Congress had provided constitutional protection to 69 percent reservation in Tamil Nadu 30 years ago.

The CWC also passed a special resolution on Bihar appealing to the people of Bihar to recognise the power of their vote. The CWC called upon all voters of Bihar to strengthen the fight for protection of our fundamental constitutional rights, for reservations and social justice, and for ensuring fair delivery of welfare benefits to every citizen. Briefing the media on the resolution, party leader Kanhaiya Kumar said, the issue of vote theft received special focus.
He said, the resolution recalled the Congress party’s long and deep relationship with Bihar, noting how immediately after independence, the state was given top priority in ushering in development along with industrialisation.
He said, the resolution noted that the fight to save democracy will begin from Bihar. The resolution also asserted that Congress will not compromise on ‘one person, one vote’ guaranteed by the Constitution. It said that a government that is formed through stolen votes cannot be responsive to public concerns and it will not stop paper leaks, prevent migration, or curb corruption—instead, it will steal the land of people.
The resolution on Bihar also noted that the law and order is deteriorating in Bihar as what prevails in the state is not good governance but complete mis-governance.