The Congress leadership, which sees the CJP as an emerging contender for the key Gen Z segment in the next election after its success in the earlier protest, has decided to keep an arm’s length from the latest CJP agitation. Several INDIA bloc allies, however, backed the CJP agitation and will join it. Given their different inclinations on Saturday, the INDIA bloc decided not to hold the joint protest of their MPs over the weekend.
“We are not participating in the CJP agitation. The Congress party is already conducting a national agitation for the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar and against SIR and we will further strengthen our agitation,” an AICC functionary told ET.
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Accordingly, the Congress has decided on a ‘jan andolan’ mobilisation in Delhi on October 12 and urged its allies to join. Rahul Gandhi, whom the Congress projects as a “youth icon”, has been holding ‘Chhatron ki Goonj’ outreach to students after the CJP emergence and he, interestingly, is slated to hold the latest event in Chennai this Saturday.
Meanwhile, several INDIA bloc members including the TMC, SP, Left, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP-SP have extended their support to the CJP agitation and leaders of some of these parties plan to join the CJP activists in agitation.
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CPI-M leader Brinda Karat said: “It’s not just a CJP agitation anymore; the Left parties and our youth and student outfits are joining hands with the CJP in this agitation, so will be many other organisations and thousands of citizens.”
