Bhubaneswar, Feb. 10: Congress campaign committee chief Rahul Gandhi today wound up his two-day visit to the state with a stern warning to party dissidents here even as the city geared up for BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s much-touted Vijay Sankalpa rally tomorrow.
Interacting with block and municipal Congress presidents, the Amethi MP, who many see as the party’s undeclared Prime Minister nominee, minced no words emphasising the need for complete unity in the party in an election year. “We will have zero tolerance for indiscipline since the unity of the party is of utmost importance to us,” the Congress youth icon is reported to said during his in-camera meeting with party leaders at the Nehru Yuva Kendra ground here.
“Rahulji laid maximum emphasis on discipline and unity as he feels that the Congress has been losing elections because of its own fault. He also sought to make it clear that there will be no change in the state Congress leadership,” said former minister Suresh Kumar Routray, disclosing details of the meeting.
His statement is being seen as a snub to the dissidents who, for past sometime, have been pressurising the central leadership for a change of guard in Odisha.
The Congress vice-president also had an open-ended discussion with a bunch of college students, who threw questions at him and from whom he sought suggestions to strengthen the reservation system, cleaning up politics and the education system. Before winding up the trip, during which he apparently kicked off the Congress’s election campaign in Odisha, Rahul also paid a brief visit to Sambalpur to meet the families of the victims of yesterday’s boat tragedy in Hirakud — which has, so far, claimed 28 lives.
With the departure of Rahul, the focus has shifted entirely to his rival, Narendra Modi’s Vijay Sankalp rally being touted by the state BJP as the biggest political event before the general elections. Members of the elite National Security Guard (NSG), assisted by local police, sought to “sterilise” the venue at Baramunda with a bustling market and a busy bus stand in its vicinity. The BJP leaders launched a propaganda blitz with women and girls sporting lotus symbols on their hennaed hands and NaMo tea stalls selling special Modi tea for Rs 2 a cup. “There are five of them in various parts of the city,” said a BJP leader.
Sources in the party said Modi’s rally would also be the launching pad for his “one note one vote” campaign in Odisha. On the occasion, the party-supported MLA from Nilgiri, Pratap Sarangi, will present him the stock of iron collected from all over the state for his ambitious “statue of unity” project commemorating the iron man of India, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel.
