NEW DELHI:

Mallikarjun Kharge, President of Congress, on Friday said a decision on whether to oppose the Centre’s ordinance on the control of administrative services in Delhi would be taken before the Parliament session. His remarks come a day after the AAP’s ultimatum that it will walk out of the Opposition meeting in Patna if the Congress does not promise its support over the issue.

Asked about the ordinance issue and AAP’s ultimatum, Mr. Kharge, before leaving for Patna, said his party would take a decision on it before Parliament’s Monsoon session and wondered why it was being talked about elsewhere when it was a matter that pertains to Parliament. “Opposing it or proposing it does not happen outside, it happens in Parliament. Before Parliament begins, all parties decide what issues they have to work on together. They (AAP) know it and even their leaders come to our all-party meetings. I don’t know why there is so much publicity about it outside,” Mr Kharge said.

“About 18-20 parties decide together on what to oppose and what to accept. So instead of saying anything now, we will take a decision before Parliament begins,” he said. The meeting of opposition parties has been called by Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar to chalk out a joint strategy to take on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

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Winning the electoral contest in the southern state of Karnataka is key to the revival of its image as the main opposition player against the saffron party for the Indian National Congress.  A win in Karnataka will give the Congress a boost of sorts to take on the BJP later this year in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.

During the election campaign in Karnataka run by its state leaders, the grand old party focussed on local issues.. This poll is also a prestige battle in a way for the party with a Kannadiga Mallikarjun Kharge, who hails from Kalaburagi district.

Though the campaign initially centered around its state leaders like Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, Kharge gave it momentum and thereby prepared the pitch for the party’s top leaders Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi to join in. Their mother and former AICC president Sonia Gandhi addressed a party rally in Hubballi on Saturday.

The party held 99 public meetings and 33 roadshows by its top state and central leaders. The Congress has set a target of winning 150 seats, and has been urging voters to ensure that it gets an absolute majority, so that BJP doesn’t “steal” the mandate by managing defections of other party legislators and “manufacture” a majority in its favour. The Congress’s main issues to attack the BJP government in this election were over corruption/ scams and the charge of 40 per cent commission, coupled with the Adani issue.

The Congress’ has promised to implement ‘guarantees’ – 200 units of free power to all households (Gruha Jyoti), Rs.2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family (Gruha Lakshmi), 10 kg of rice free to every member of a BPL household (Anna Bhagya), Rs.3,000 every month for graduate youth and Rs.1,500 for diploma holders (both in the age group of 18-25) for two years (YuvaNidhi), and free travel for women in public transport buses (Shakti), on the very first day, on coming to power in the state.

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