Chandrapur: Two events by Congress leaders on same day hint at ‘lack of unity’

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The leaders of the Congress party will organise two events in Chandrapur, with the venues adjacent to each other, on October 6. Brahmapuri Congress MLA Vijay Wadettiwar is the key organiser of the Janakrosh rally of the party, the official party programme to highlight the “failures” of the BJP-Sena government in meeting people’s expectations after three years in office. To be held at Chanda Club Ground, it will be attended by state Congress president Ashok Chavan. The other rally has been organised by former Chandrapur MP and AICC member Naresh Pugalia, adjacent to the same venue on the day to “celebrate birth centenary of late PM Indira Gandhi.”

Wadettiwar’s political rivalry with Pugalia is well-known and the two parallel programmes have created a picture of party disunity since Pugalia’s programme will be attended by former Congress ministers in the state Satish Chaturvedi, Vasant Purke, Shivajirao Moghe, Anees Ahmed and Nitin Raut. Pugalia had come to Nagpur to invite Chaturvedi for the rally. When contacted, Chaturvedi handed over the phone to Pugalia, who said, “We had fixed the programme about a month ago and had even invited Rahul Gandhi, but he was busy with Himachal and Gujarat elections. We all are original Congress and Indira loyalists and had never deserted the party or came to the party from the outside. Congress is a matter of faith for us. So, we are going to celebrate the late Prime Minister’s centenary with gusto. Congressmen from Nagpur division will attend our programme in thousands.” He added, “We don’t have invitation for the Janakrosh rally.”

Asked if their separate programme will portray a picture of disunity ahead of the crucial 2019 elections, Pugalia said, “Congress always had different groups and they all have actually lent strength to the party.” Asked about his reaction to Pugalia-led rally, Ashok Chavan said, “I don’t know anything about this. I will take information and only then will be able to say something. But our programme is basically to highlight the state government’s failures after three years in office.” Asked about Pugalia’s complaint that he and others like Chaturvedi have not been invited for the Janakrosh programme, Chavan said, “I am not aware of this and will find out what the case is.”

Pugalia will also lead a protest march to district collectorate to press for various demands, like immediate allocation of loan waiver benefits to farmers, water scarcity likely to be faced across the district owning to scanty rainfall and the issues of project-affected farmers of WCL Powni project.