Stand united in spirit: Rahul Gandhi

Thiruvananthapuram: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday asked squabbling Congress leaders in Kerala to close ranks “not only physically but also in spirit”, evoking applause from party men and women gathered at KPCC president V M Sudheeran’s Janapaksha Yatra finale here on Tuesday.  

Mr Gandhi, in blue linen pants and trademark white kurta, was repeating what senior Congress leader A K Antony earlier said to rapturous applause about the need for unity in the party to win the local elections next year and the Assembly polls in 2016.

“For which, physical unity is not enough; we must be united in spirit too”, said Mr Antony, stressing that “as an elder brother” he would put the onus on Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Mr Sudheeran and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala.

Mr Gandhi congratulated Mr Sudheeran on his Yatra: “Congress should embrace the common people and Kerala has been on the right path... all should embrace the party not just physically, but in spirit also. The way the Congress party works here is a model for me and one that’s going to be a model for the rest of the country”.  

The crowd responded spontaneously to Mr Gandhi’s short and crisp deliveries, without waiting to hear Mahila Congress leader Bindu Krishna’s translation.    

Reflecting his newfound style in the Lok Sabha, Mr Gandhi attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s six months, calling it long on rhetoric and short on action.

The pattern of communal violence before every election, in Maharashtra ... Chattisgarh, makes communities fight against each other. “This governance is for the corporates”, he said.

He warned against BJP’s one-man approach to solving country’s problems and the “skewed” flagship ‘Adarsh Gram Yojana’, focusing only on some 650-700 villages out of the 6.5 lakh villages.  

Mr Antony greeted Congress president Sonia Gandhi on her birthday and expressed the hope that the 2016 Assembly election would rewrite UDF’s record.

Mr Sudheeran commended the UDF Government’s brave decision to go ahead with the bar policy.  Mr Gandhi later called on Speaker G. Karthikeyan, recuperating at his official residence.