Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge
Credit: PTI Photo
Ahmedabad: Targeting the BJP, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge invoked Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on Wednesday and said that Gujarat gave two leaders who won independence, and now, two others are working "against the same freedom by dividing the people".
Kharge was addressing party workers during the inauguration of a 10-day training camp for the newly elected Gujarat Congress's district and city presidents in Junagadh. Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, is also slated to participate in the camp on Friday.
The senior leader claimed that for the past 11 years, "Congress has been playing the role of a strong opposition by defending the constitution and fighting for the rights of the poor, farmers, workers, and women."
Further, Kharge said, "Congress gave the nation its Constitution and the right to vote, but today, the BJP is weakening both of them."
"You gave us two Gujaratis who won freedom for the nation and united the whole country. Now, you have given us two more Gujaratis who are working against the same freedom and dividing people," Kharge said, in an apparent attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.
Kharge further said, "Every speech of Modi ji begins with Congress and ends with Congress. In all his failures, he blames Congress because he knows that it is only Congress that can end his (Modi's) politics."
The 10-day training camp is part of the party's "Sangathan Srujan Abhiyan", which is the second such training camp organised in Gujarat. The Congress, through these camps, is trying to prepare a roadmap to revamp the party ahead of the 2027 state Assembly election.
"We can win the upcoming elections in Gujarat, as since 2014, the state has been run by a remote-control government. All decisions are taken in Delhi. BJP has ruled the state for the past 25 years, and now people understand the ground reality," Kharge said.