Priyanka Gandhi’s Feb 19 visit to focus strictly on organisational talks: Gogoi

Guwahati, Feb 18: All India Congress Committee (AICC)’s Screening Committee chairperson Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will begin a two-day visit to Assam from February 19, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) chief Gaurav Gogoi confirmed on Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference at Rajiv Bhawan, Gogoi said the visit would be strictly in line with the responsibilities entrusted to Priyanka Gandhi as chair of the screening committee and would focus entirely on internal organisational meetings.

“Priyanka Gandhi will be on a two-day visit to Assam. She will discharge the responsibility given to her. For the past year, Rahul Gandhi has met mandal leaders whenever he visited Assam. This time, Priyanka Gandhi wants to meet all block presidents, so she will focus only on meetings,” Gogoi said.

He clarified that public campaign events would be scheduled separately. “In the coming days, we will finalise her public campaign programmes,” he added.

AICC Assam in-charge Jitendra Singh said Priyanka Gandhi, along with three other members of the screening committee, namely Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, Imran Masood, Dr. Sirivella Prasad, would arrive in Guwahati at around 10 am on Thursday.

“She will visit Maa Kamakhya Temple upon arrival. Thereafter, she will go to Rajiv Bhawan to attend meetings with party leaders, workers and office-bearers from 11 am till midnight,” Singh said.

The meetings will include members of the Block Congress Committees, Zilla Congress Committees, APCC office-bearers, frontal organisations, cells and departments.

“For the first time, screening committee members are meeting every stakeholder and gathering feedback on ground realities. All three members are visiting almost every district, from Sadiya to Dhubri, over 10 to 12 days. The feedback will be used to prepare for the upcoming elections,” Singh added.

Meanwhile, Gogoi launched a fresh attack on Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, alleging that the BJP leader appeared uncertain about his party’s electoral prospects.

“The Chief Minister always talks about seats. He even predicts vote margins from previous elections. Why could he not speak about seats this time? When asked about the number of seats, he had no answer. This is the reality,” Gogoi said.

Taking a swipe at former APCC chief Bhupen Borah, who is set to join the BJP on February 22, Gogoi alleged that Borah had recently expressed willingness to swear before Maa Kamakhya and Bordua Than that he would never join the BJP.

“I don’t know what value I should give to a person who betrays his own words,” Gogoi remarked.

Reacting to the Chief Minister’s claim that Borah was the “last Hindu leader” in the APCC, Gogoi accused the BJP of politicising religion.

“They have no right to distribute Hindu certificates to leaders. The Chief Minister himself wants to give tickets to people running cow syndicates. I publicly challenge him to sit for a debate on the Hindu religion,” Gogoi said.