Sonia Gandhi to announce 5 guarantees

Hyderabad: The TPCC extended committee meeting on Tuesday thanked party senior leader Sonia Gandhi for accepting the request by the state unit to hold the CWC meeting in Hyderabad. “In the backdrop of fast changing political developments, we requested Sonia Gandhi to announce the five guarantees here,” said TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy.

Addressing  the meeting at Gandhi Bhavan, Revanth Reddy said, "With the BJP at the helm, democracy is in tatters. We need to make the programmes of September 16, 17 and 18 a success. Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal is coming (on Wednesday) to review the arrangements.”

He said the party would hold  a mega rally on September 17 where Sonia Gandhi will announce five guarantees. News of the five guarantees will be taken to the people on September 18 by important leaders to the 119 Assembly constituencies

“We sought permission on September 2 from the defence ministry to hold our meeting in the Parade Ground on September 17. But the BJP and BRS are trying to deny us the ground with Kishan Reddy now saying that they will hold  a meeting on the same date at the venue. We condemn this attitude.”

“It’s tragic that the government is becoming a party to such maverick actions. When leaders who are under SPG protection come on a visit, the government should show sanity and take decisions. As a second option we have asked LB Stadium as the venue, the TPCC chief said.

Reiterating that the meeting would take place despite obstacles being placed by the BJP and BRS, he said, "We need to be ready to hold the meeting in the outskirts if needed.

Revanth Reddy noted that September 7 would mark the first anniversary of the Bharat Jodo Yatra undertaken by Rahul Gandhi. In this backdrop, padayatras should be taken at the mandal and district centres and the occasion celebrated at the statues of Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi. “Coordinators will be appointed for all the 119 constituencies. They should explain about the significance of the yatra to the people," he said.

Holding the CWC meeting in Telangana mirrored the primacy that the party was giving the state, said AICC Telangana incharge Manikrao Thakre. “The entire country is now looking towards Telangana. We should strive to make the CWC and the public meeting a grand success,” he said.

Damodara Raja Narasimha, nominated permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee, said, “We had held AICC, CWC meetings in Hyderabad during the YSR regime. Taking a lesson from those experiences we should make the CWC meet a success,” he said.