Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said that after coming to power in 2024, the party will implement women’s reservation while ensuring political participation of Other Backward Community (OBC) women. He was speaking at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting held at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) office in New Delhi. He further said, “Congress is continuously raising the demand for a nationwide caste census but BJP is silent on this important issue.”

He further said, “For proper share in welfare schemes, important to have socio-economic data on condition of weaker sections of society. We have to make effective strategy for assembly polls in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, MP, Telangana, Mizoram.”

Several leaders of the Congress are present at the meet, including Rahul Gandhi, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary, Meera Kumar and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra among others. The committee is likely to discuss the issues pertaining to poll-bound states Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram. According to sources, a nationwide caste census and poll strategies will take center stage at the meet. 

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi, who is also a regular CWC member, raised concerns recently over Rahul Gandhi’s “jitni abaadi, utna haq” (rights proportionate to population) slogan, arguing that it amounts to an endorsement of majoritarianism. Although Singhvi quickly deleted his controversial post on X after the Congress distanced itself from his remarks, concerns remain among a section of the party as to the articulation of the politically sensitive call for the caste census.

Meanwhile, the ruling BJP has escalated its attacks against the Congress, saying the party has never been in favour of a caste census with late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi opposing the Mandal Commission in Parliament. The Congress has taken a principled stand to push for the caste census in order to counter the BJP’s Hindutva agenda. After Bihar released the findings of a caste census in the state, Congress-ruled Rajasthan issued orders on Saturday for holding a similar exercise.

In Chhattisgarh too, the Congress has announced that it will conduct a caste census if it is voted to power again. Congress-ruled Karnataka has already announced the census and is likely to come out with its results later this year. On the agenda at Monday’s CWC meet is firming up the party’s strategy in the five poll-bound states. The Congress is seeking to retain its governments in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan and hoping to wrest power from the BJP in Madhya Pradesh, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in Telangana and Mizo National Front (MNF) in Mizoram.

The CWC meet comes at a time when some opposition leaders are facing heat from central agencies and the latest in a series of arrests is of AAP’s Sanjay Singh in the Delhi excise policy case. The Congress has condemned Singh’s arrest but also pointed to similar action against its leaders in Punjab by the AAP government there, the latest being the arrest of its farmers’ wing head Sukhpal Khaira in a drugs-related case.

The meeting of the top decision-making body of the Congress comes just over three weeks after the first meeting of the reconstituted CWC was held in Hyderabad on September 16 to evolve a strategy for the assembly polls in the five states and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The chief ministers of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh, besides the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leaders in the five poll-bound states, will attend the CWC meet. The CWC has 39 regular members, 32 permanent invitees and 13 special invitees, including 15 women and several new faces.

(With inputs from PTI)

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