Bengaluru: Sending out a loud and clear message to party leaders and those issuing “anti-party statements”, AICC general secretary, K.C. Venugopal on Thursday asserted that every leader was important for the growth of the party but not at the cost of the Congress.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a four-day long marathon party strategy meetings here, Venugopal said, “The Congress party has a space and will accommodate every leader but party disciple is paramount. How much ever big or small, this is the first and foremost code which needs to be followed diligently by one and all. There is no excuse for violation of this code.”
According to him, the party will not hesitate to initiate disciplinary action against those leaders, who try to issue anti-party statements against any leader. “Ours is a democratic party, we have a forum to discuss problems and find suitable solutions too, but, if anyone goes public against the party, then be ready to face the consequences,” the AICC general secretary said.
In response to a question about party senior leaders like former ministers A.H. Vishwanath, C.K. Jaffer Sharief and B. Janardhan Poojary issuing statements against the party leadership, Venugopal asserted that the party is aware of this and knows to deal with such incidents too.
“I feel saddened about Vishwanath’s outbursts in public. I had a healthy discussion with him about his issues. At the same time, I had also requested him not to air his views publicly but he is still continuing to air his grievances in public, which really hurts me,” he snapped.
Answering a query, the AICC general secretary conceded that all is not well in his party and he would apprise AICC vice president, Rahul Gandhi about these issues. “In these meetings, we have come across our shortcomings. We are left with nine months to rectify them. At this juncture, we have offered a few solutions too to rectify problems in various districts. Solutions like constituting district level co-ordination committees where problems had been persisting for a long is also one such measure,” he explained.
‘Attend Cong party events’
Irked over a section of leaders not participating in Congress organised programmes like Tipu Jayanti or those related to minorities, All India Congress Committee general secretary K.C. Venugopal is learnt to have instructed party leaders to stand by and support party programmes.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, a senior leader disclosed that Venugopal was especially upset with a section of leaders from the coastal region for deliberately skipping party programmes like Tipu Jayanti as they reportedly felt it may not go down well with Hindu voters.
"I am not asking leaders to appease minorities but stand by them whenever the ruling party organizes such progammes. If the Congress leaders too start behaving like Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, then what will remain of us?," he reportedly asked leaders who had skipped the events.
He further maintained that there was no need for Congress leaders to indulge in appeasement politics and go overboard in placating Hindu voters and stressed the need to strike a balance.
Apart from this, the All India Congress Committee general secretary also suggested that the party should build a team to handle social media in each taluk. "This is the need of the hour. We cannot be left behind in social media campaigns. Already we are lagging behind when it comes to spreading awareness about the ruling party's good work, therefore, we need to strengthen our campaign network too," he told district leaders who met in the last four days.
