Digvijaya to Head Congress Committee on National Agitations; Priyanka Member

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh

(File Photo: PTI)

The Congress on Thursday, 2 September, constituted a committee to raise national issues and former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Digvijaya Singh has been made the chairman with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as one of its members.

A statement from the Congress said, "the committee has been formed to plan sustained agitations on national issues."

The other members of the committee are Uttam Kumar Reddy, BK Hariprasad, Manish Chathrath, Ripun Bora, Udit Raj, Ragini Nayak, and Zubair Khan.

Digvijaya Singh, who has made a comeback, has been leading an agitation in his home state and was last seen in Delhi during the protest march led by Rahul Gandhi where he was detained by the police.

The Congress had received public feedback that Congress needed leaders like him. Singh, who was a powerful General Secretary and also handled the charge of the party in UP, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, and many other states, had been out of the All India Congress Committee for long.

The Congress has been protesting against the government on various issues. On Thursday, it held a protest in Delhi against the fuel-price hike but it has not been able to sustain a nationwide campaign against the Union government in the past seven years, said a party leader.

The party's frontal organizations – youth and women wings – on Thursday held protests against the government over inflation and fuel-price rise in New Delhi. Mahila Congress workers staged a protest near the Prime Minister's residence at Lok Kalyan Marg.

The Youth Congress held a protest outside the Ministry of Petroleum against the rise in the prices of fuel and LPG cylinders.

The Mahila Congress protestors were detained by the police. Amrita Dhawan, president of Delhi Mahila Congress, before being detained said, "The Home budget has collapsed, price of every item is skyrocketing and things are going beyond the reach of common man."

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday had attacked the government on the issue and had said that the only GDP which is growing in the country are the prices of gas, diesel, and petrol, which have hit the common man the hardest.