One Nation, One Election is assault on the Constitution: Chidambaram after CWC meeting

CWC meeting: Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday said that One Nation, One Election is an assault on the Constitution after the first meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) in Hyderabad. Addressing a press conference after the meet he said, "We reject One Nation, One Election. It is an attack on Federalism. It will require at least five Constitutional amendments. The BJP knows that it does not have the numbers to pass these Constitutional amendments. Yet if it puts forward this mirage of One Nation, One Election, it is only to divert attention from the pressing issues and to create a false narrative."

He further said, "On the political situation, we believe that there is a challenge to the Constitutional and federal structure of the country. Federalism is being systematically weakened, state governments have been hampered, revenues to state governments have been denied or reduced and obstacles are placed in the way of state governments discharging their responsibilities."

Pulling up the Manipur issue, Chidambaram said, "Since the 5th of May, Manipur has been burning. The PM has found the time to visit several countries, to make a quick dash to attend the ASEAN Summit and then come back for the G20. It's startling and deeply disappointing that he has not found two hours to visit Manipur...Except a two-minute mention of Manipur just before the Parliament session started, he has not spoken about Manipur."

Chidambaram says, "Congress Working Committee (CWC) is deliberating on a draft resolution. The deliberations are still underway...We are discussing the situation in the country. Broadly, it can be divided into the political situation, the economic crisis that the country faces and the security threats both internal and external that are a great challenge to the country."

 

Announcing the plans for the meeting of the CWC to be chaired by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, general secretaries KC Venugopal and Jairam Ramesh said this is for the first time in many years that the top decision-making body of the Congress will hold deliberations for three days outside Delhi.

3-day meeting in Hyderabad:

Earlier, Venugopal had announced that the CWC will deliberate on the strategy for the upcoming assembly elections and Lok Sabha polls. He expressed confidence that the Congress would form government in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram that go to polls later this year.

Venugopal said that on Sunday there will be a meeting of the extended Congress Working Committee (CWC) where all state party chiefs and CLP leaders, besides Parliamentary Party office bearers, Central Election Committee members are invited to strategise on upcoming elections. "We invited 159 people, out of them 147 people are attending that meeting on Sunday," he noted. At the meeting there could also be a discussion on the feasibility of holding Bharat Jodo Yatra 2.

Telangana National Integration Day celebration on Sept 17:

On the evening of September 17, which is celebrated as Telangana National Integration Day, the party will hold a mega rally near Hyderabad, where it will announce six guarantees for the Telangana assembly election, he said. The holding of the CWC meeting in Telangana's capital is as an attempt to boost the party's campaign in the poll-bound state and send out a clear message that it would go all-out to oust the BRS government in the assembly elections.

"Tomorrow at 2:30 pm, we will hold the first CWC meeting. Congress President will be present. Former Congress Presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and all other Working Committee Members including permanent invitees and special invitees will participate. We have invited 90 people, but six of them have informed us about their inability due to personal difficulties to attend. All other 84 people will attend, including our four chief ministers," Venugopal said.

Event to take place on Sept 28:

He said on September 18, the party's members of Parliament will be back to attend the Parliament session. Ramesh said the meeting is being held for the first time outside Delhi in many years with upcoming polls in mind. He said this will add renewed vigour in the party's rank and file in Telangana which got a fillip after the Bharat Jodo Yatra and claimed that this will bear good results for the party in upcoming polls by electing its government.

"We will announce six guarantees for the people of Telangana. We hope that when the elections come, the party will get a clear mandate from the people," Ramesh said, referring to the mega rally that will be held on Sunday evening. Training his guns on the BRS government led by K Chandrasekhar Rao, he said, "Understand one thing that the Modi government and the KCR government are two sides of the same coin. There is no difference between them, in Delhi there is Narendra Modi and in Hyderabad there is KCR."

(With agencies inputs) 

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