Sonia not retiring, will continue to fight for party: Congress

Amid speculation that Sonia Gandhi may be looking at retirement after her speech at the Congress plenary session’s second day (February 25), the party on Sunday (February 26), rubbished the reports. Congress leader Alka Lamba slammed reports that claimed Sonia has hinted at retiring from politics.

“Sonia Gandhi told us yesterday that she has no plans to retire” and will continue to fight for the Congress party and the country against the BJP. Sonia, who was seated on the stage, could be seen nodding in agreement.

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Party leaders had also said yesterday that Sonia’s statement of her innings concluding with the BJY were strictly in the context of her presidency of the party and not her political future.

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi spoke on the second day of the party’s three-day 85th plenary session in Raipur. She had said that she was happy that her “innings could conclude with the Bharat Jodo Yatra”.

Priyanka Gandhi took to the stage on the third day on the plenary session (February 26).

“It is important for us to recognise that our organisation is facing a major challenge and how we will overcome this challenge..  In UP, we say there is a life-long Congress sufferer. That is the worker who works for the party throughout his life irrespective of returns. I want to speak about our workers. Whenever we come for such sessions, we bring new resolutions. These resolutions should not be limited to the paper they are written on, it is incumbent on all the Congress members to go to every village and spread the message of these resolutions so that our organisation is truly strengthened,” she said.

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Alluding to Bharat Jodo Yatra, Priyanka said that, “Rahul’s BJY has shown the country what the Congress stands for, our ideology. He did what hadn’t been done in a long time. The country could see what the Congress stands for, what Congress workers are doing. When we were in Kashmir, some local women told me that for 3 years they didn’t have the strength to come out of their homes but the yatra gave them that strength. It is our job to go to the people and tell them what we stand for, what we wish to do for them.”

Priyanka touched upon unemployment and the skewed rich-poor ratio in the country.

“The country has problems of unemployment — we have to tell the jobless what we can do for them. The farmers are in a crisis — we have to tell them what we will do for them… It is for us to show this country for a handful of businessmen are getting richer while majority of people are unemployed, financially poor…”

Finally she exhorted the Congress Party workers to keep fighting in the face of intense pressure from the BJP.

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“Hopes of the people are riding on the Congress party, they know we can work for them but we have to go to them, tell them what we want to do for them… Everytime there is an election, issues that have nothing to do with the people take centre stage while issues of the people – their jobs, their well being, get relegated to the back stage. We have to do a politics of issues, of the people… Our leaders and workers are facing all kind of pressures, they are intimidated, raided, jailed but they fight. We know they fight but the ordinary people should also know that we are fighting,” she said.