Congress keen to hold CWC meet at Sevagram on October 2

Congress President Rahul Gandhi smiles while addressing the media on Rafale deal issue, in New Delhi. Pic/PTI

It seems the Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his team will have to be more convincing to the trustees of Mahatma Gandhi Sevagram Ashram for permission to hold party's Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting on October 2, the birth anniversary of the father of the nation.

Sources said the trustees have politely denied permission to holding the Congress meeting on the ashram premises, saying that the place was not meant for political activities.

"The trustees have told so to the Congress leaders (party general secretary Ashok Gehlot and state unit president Ashok Chavan) who were in Sevagram (70km from Nagpur) on Monday to request for permission and also mobilise the local leadership," said a person who works closely with the ashram.

Sources said the Congress leaders were still hopeful of getting a permission. And if they are not allowed to have it on the premises, they have kept an alternative plan ready in which the CWC would meet in the auditorium of one of the two professional colleges in the vicinity.

If not meeting on the premises, then, Rahul and others should get to avail of the ashram accommodation and have food there itself, said a local Congress leader. "All our leaders may participate in the prayer on Gandhi Jayanti and they may even get a chance to make a speech or two at the prayer. We are exploring this arrangement," he said.

The Congress also plans to hold a public meeting of Rahul and Sonia in a neighboring Wardha city. Initially, it planned to have it on the Circus Ground in the heart of the city but the police have denied permission on security reasons. The party has been asked to find an alternative and safer venue.

Re-appropriating the Mahatma

The Sevagram ashram was set up by Mahatma Gandhi and it remained home to him till his death. It is where he concieved several agitations against the British Raj.

Taking a cue from the freedom struggle, Rahul Gandhi wishes to make a clarion call akin to 'Chale Jao' slogan -- against the Modi Government, from Sevagram.

Going to Sevagram did not merely mean a symbolism to the party, said a Congress leader. "The Mahatma (Gandhi) is Congress and the Congress is the Mahatma. This is what the people of this country are aware of. But of late, a certain party has been trying to own the very person who was assassinated by the people everyone knows about. We want to expose the hypocrisy and selfish motives of the BJP and Narendra Modi," said a Congress leader.

Congress CWC will bring to Sevagram (Wardha) senior leaders like Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and many others. The district is a perfect example of agrarian crisis where thousands of debt-ridden farmers have committed suicide. Rahul is likely to walk with party workers to the ashram from Wardha city, meet aggrieved farmers and youth.

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