By IANS,
Chennai : Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi Thursday said the “road to power” in Tamil Nadu is by “going near to the people and raising their issues”, even as he reiterated that the party’s alliance with ruling DMK was intact.
Winding up a series of meetings with Youth Congress workers, students and others here Wednesday and Thursday, Gandhi said at a press conference: “The Youth Congress is opening its doors to young energy. The route map for our party to come to power is to go near the people and raise issues affecting them.”
Gandhi, who is incharge of the party’s youth wing, said the election process in the Youth Congress was designed to attract young people and he was “impressed by the overwhelming response the Youth Congress is getting in the state”.
However, he reiterated that the party’s alliance with DMK in the state and at the centre is intact and described all speculation to the contrary a figment of the imagination.
Underscoring the point that raising people’s issue does not mean spoiling relations with its alliance partner DMK in the state, he said: “The question of fighting elections does not arise here. There are many issues for a political party to raise. I am sure DMK would appreciate the people’s issues brought to their notice by the Congress.”
Gandhi dismissed repeated questions from the media about the Congress going it alone in Tamil Nadu as it had done in Uttar Pradesh in the last general elections.
The Congress and the DMK form the ruling combine in the state and are part of the ruling United Progressive Alliance at the centre.
“I am one of the architects of the Uttar Pradesh formula,” Gandhi replied. “The parliamentary election performance was okay for the party. Each state is different. Uttar Pradesh has a particular balance and a particular politics. We did discuss an alliance with the Samajwadi Party but decided to go alone. But it is a shallow idea to apply the Uttar Pradesh formula across the country.”
Again asked why he had not met DMK supremo and Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi during his current trip to Tamil Nadu, Rahul Gandhi pointed out: “I did not meet Karunanidhi-ji during my last two trips here either. But that has not had any effect on our alliance. Visiting Karunanidhi is an irrelevant issue. There is nothing out of ordinary in my not meeting him.”
“Both the parties are in regular touch and talk to each other. My job is to build the Youth Congress.”
Questioned about the absence of star power for the party in Tamil Nadu unlike others and the action he is planning to take like attracting Tamil hero Vijay, Gandhi said: “The party has an open system. Anybody can join provided he does not hold extreme views on religion and he is not a criminal. It is true that I met Vijay. I explained to him the process of joining the party.”
He stoutly maintained that India had acted for the safety of Tamils by sending senior government ministers and officials to Colombo to take up the issue when questioned repeatedly on the harassment of internally displaced Sri Lankan Tamils and of Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy.
When pointed out that the Congress party was not cashing the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) into votes, he said: “The idea behind the scheme is to bridge the divide between the rich and poor India. At the time when the country got independence, there was only one India – a poor India.
“Over the years, two India’s emerged – a rich India with opportunities and a poor India without opportunities,” he said.
“The aim of the government is to provide opportunities to the poor India through education, and employment schemes without disturbing the India with opportunities.”
According to Gandhi, the NREGA has reshaped the rural labour market for the betterment of the poor.
Later Gandhi left for Krishnagiri from where he will travel to Salem and Coimbatore.
After addressing a public meeting in Coimbatore, Gandhi will leave for New Delhi concluding his three-day Tamil Nadu tour.