Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid on Thursday said the Bharat Jodo Yatra should not be given a political colour as it is a march of common man and is meant to unite India.
Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid said the Bharat Jodo Yatra should not be given a political colour
Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid on Thursday said the Bharat Jodo Yatra should not be given a political colour as it is a march of common man and is meant to unite India.
"Rahul Gandhi does not want that the Yatra should be linked with elections," the former Union minister told reporters here.
He said the Rahul Gandhi-led Yatra is not only of the Congress but of women, traders, farmers and children and is meant to unite people, society and the country.
To a question, Khurshid said senior leaders have chosen Mallikarjun Kharge, an experienced person, as the Congress president and he was happy that the party chief was not only devoting full time but also trying to make the organisation strong by reaching to the grassroot-level workers and propagating secular thinking.
"Ek ek taraf sangathan ko majboot kiya ja raha hai aur dusari taraf desh ko jodane ka kaam ho raha hai (On one hand, the organisation is being made stronger and on the other, work to unite the country is going on)," he said.
Asked about the Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah dispute and whether the Congress will work towards an amicable settlement, Khurshid said it is up to the people of Mathura and they do not want to lose the harmony.
Asked about the Allahabad High Court's order quashing an Uttar Pradesh government notification on urban local body polls and ordering it to hold the polls without reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), he said while the party respects the court's verdict, the development of backward classes cannot be overlooked.
He said if the state govt appeals (in the matter) in the apex court, his party will also support it.
The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday moved the Supreme Court challenging the Allahabad High Court order quashing its draft notification on urban local body elections and directing the state to hold the polls without reservation for the Other Backward Classes.
Towards the end of the press conference, former leader of the Congress Legislature Party Pradeep Mathur compared Rahul Gandhi to Lord Krishna who was leading the 'Pandavas' (characters in Mahabharat) and Kharge as Arjun (another character in Mahabharat).