Chennai: In lieu of the Assembly elections in the State, Rahul Gandhi on Monday chaired Congress meetings on election preparations.
The lessons from the recently-concluded Bihar polls were visible in the Tamilnadu deliberations as some members said the party should focus on seeking ‘winnable’ seats from alliance partners.
At the meeting, he made it clear at the outset that Congress president Sonia Gandhi had assigned him the task. He said he was there to listen to what the party functionaries had to say and convey that to Sonia Gandhi. People aware of the matter said the message was clear that Rahul Gandhi was only carrying out Sonia Gandhi’s orders and his return as Congress president after he resigned from the post last year was not to be taken for granted.
The meetings which also deliberated on Assam polls, lasted for two hours, with emphasis laid on how the Congress’s relationship with Tamils differed from that of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
“While the RSS is repressing the Tamil culture, the Congress believes in bridging it with the rest of the country”, a functionary quoted Rahul Gandhi as saying.