To counter BJP, Rahul meets Cong SC MLAs separately - Seeks suggestions on wooing Dalits, giving them more say in party
Tuesday, 03/02/2015
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CHANDIGARH: To counter the BJP’s aggressive agenda of wooing Dalits and Hindus in Punjab, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Monday met the 10 Scheduled Caste (SC) legislators from Punjab separately, in the first batch.
Rahul sought suggestions from the MLAs on how to woo Dalits, considered the traditional vote bank of the Congress, who have in the last election veered towards the SAD-BJP alliance.
In 2012, the SAD had won 11 seats and the BJP five in Doaba while the Congress won six. One seat went to an Independent.
The Congress slide in Doaba had begun in the 2007 polls when it registered its worst-ever performance by losing 20 of the 25 seats to the SAD-BJP combine. After delimitation, the number of seats in Doaba went down to 23. According to party sources, the rationale behind meeting the SC legislators separately was to allow them to speak on Dalit issues freely, suggest ways to win Dalit votes back and find a Dalit face, who could be entrusted with a “bigger role” in the party. The party is learnt to be deliberating on the idea of distributing the three posts of Punjab Congress chief, Congress Legislature Party leader and campaign committee chairman among the three dominant vote banks -- Hindus, Jat Sikhs and SC leaders.
MLA Charanjit Channi said, “The Congress vice-president said SCs should get same representation and power as others. He said the BJP was trying to woo Dalits and Hindus and the Congress had to counter it. He asked us to strengthen the party and raise issues concerning people.”
MLA Tarlochan Singh said Rahul also asked them to highlight the issues of drug abuse in Punjab and how the Modi government was trying to “discriminate” against the poor and farmers by changing the land acquisition act and food security act besides its “failure” to bring back black money stashed in foreign banks.
The other MLAs present were Raj Kumar Verka, Harchand Kaur, Gurcharan Singh Boparai, Ajaib Singh Bhatti and Aruna Chaudhary.
