Assembly Elections 2023 Live Updates: Telangana CM works like 'Raja', his family controls important portfolios like liquor: Rahul Gandhi

Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will on Wednesday kickstart the party's campaign for the November 30 assembly polls in Telangana with a bus yatra. Both the AICC leaders will arrive at Begumpet airport at 3:30 pm by a special flight and leave for Ramappa temple by helicopter. After offering prayers at the shrine, they will launch the bus yatra, and later address a rally and also interact with women, party sources said. While Priyanka is set to return to New Delhi after the rally, Rahul would continue to attend events in the state, they said.

The Congress leadership on Wednesday discussed the probable candidates for the upcoming Rajasthan assembly elections. The party's Central Election Committee, chaired by AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge, held a meeting to deliberate on the names of candidates for the November 25 polls in the desert state. Kharge, former Congress presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, AICC in-charge of state Sukhjinder Randhawa, Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee chief Govind Dotasra, general secretary organisation K C Venugopal, party's Rajasthan screening committee chief Gaurav Gogoi, among others, attended the meeting.

A meeting of Congress Central Election Committee (CEC) has begun here to finalise candidates for the upcoming Rajasthan Assembly elections and remaining candidates for Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. The meeting is being chaired by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge at AICC headquarters in the national capital. The meeting is being attended by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and senior leader and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi along with members of CEC and screening committee members of the respective states. Earlier on October 13, the Congress party held a Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting in view of the Madhya Pradesh, Telangana assembly polls at the AICC (All India Congress Committee) headquarters in Delhi. Ahead of the CEC meeting the former Congress President Rahul Gandhi seemed confident that the Congress would register victories in the upcoming assembly elections.

Senior state unit functionaries said the party has started appointing representatives in each of the 13,820 polling booths. They would ensure that all eligible voters in their assigned areas are enrolled with the election commission and they will also take the message of the party to each and every household in their area.

The Congress leadership has started reviving the party at the grassroots as the Lok Sabha elections are just six months away. The state leadership has started strengthening its cadre at the polling booth level by assigning additional responsibilities to workers and exhorting them to bring the ideology of the Congress and the work done by its previous governments back into discussion among people.

Two schemes of the Shivraj government will be replaced and amped up — the Mukhya Mantri Kanyadaan Yojana will be replaced by the Beti Vivah Yojana, under which each bride will get Rs 1,00,001, and the Ladli Lakshmi Yojana will be replaced by Meri Bitiya Rani Yojana, under which benefits of Rs 2.5 lakh will be given to girls from their birth to marriage. Congress’s promise to restore the old pension scheme for government employees is in the manifesto.

We will bring every family under it. This will be a huge step for the state.” The manifesto reiterates the party’s guarantees announced by Priyanka Gandhi in Mandla on October 12 — free school education and stipends ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 1,500 per month under the Padho Padhao Yojana. Playing to the gallery, Congress has tossed up the promise to “try for an IPL team of Madhya Pradesh”. Congress also promised rewards for sportsmen who win medals. An IPL team, however, would require the BCCI to first invite bids.

Congress, which believes the winds are in its favour in 2023, promises nine rights to the common people — right to water, health, electricity, education, food, housing, minimum income, social justice and employment.Releasing the manifesto on Tuesday afternoon, former chief minister and state Congress president Kamal Nath said, “Right to health is our big commitment. Every family is distressed because of the present health system. People are having to sell their homes for medical treatment. We will pass a law for right to health and will give a health insurance cover of up to Rs 25 lakh with Rs 10 lakh accident insurance.

The Padho Padhao Yojana, announced by Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi, is among the key promises. The standouts in the 106-page manifesto are a health insurance cover of Rs 25 lakh for every family and a Rs 10 lakh accident cover.

Exactly a month before voting in Madhya Pradesh, Congress on Tuesday released its assembly election manifesto in Bhopal with 1,290 promises spanning a wide spectrum — from caste survey, basic needs and a 27% OBC quota to insurance for all. It promised even to try for an IPL team for the sta te. “Congress aayegi, khushhaali layegi” is the party’s slogan for the 2023 polls.