CWC criticises SIR, land lease to Adani for power project in Bhagalpur

Patna: Indicating its poll strategy for the upcoming assembly elections in the state, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) on Wednesday described the special intensive revision (SIR) an attempt from the ruling party to “cling to power by manipulating electoral rolls”.In its resolution passed at the meeting, the CWC described the SIR as yet “another dirty trick from the BJP’s toolkit.” Alleging that the ruling party’s aim is to “disenfranchise the poor, workers, backward classes, and minorities” who are determined to oust the NDA from Bihar, the CWC resolution said the people will lose everything once their votes were taken away.Thanking LoP in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi for raising the issue through the ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’, the meeting said the Congress would never give up the fight for the “helpless”.Stating that a govt built on “stolen mandates” and “rigged voter lists” has “no moral or political legitimacy”, the resolution said the govt is apathetic because it knows that it can remain in power “through deceit and spreading fear”.The CWC also made a fervent appeal to the voters to recognise the power of the vote, reminding them how this “disenfranchisement through the attack on the Right to Vote” will culminate in snatching away their rights in govt welfare schemes as well as their constitutionally guaranteed reservations.The CWC also raised the issue of the Bihar govt leasing out over a thousand acres of land to Adani Power Limited at the rate of “Re 1 per year” for a power project in Bhagalpur. It said while carrying out this project, the govt did not consult or seek the consent of the farmers whose land was being snatched.“It is also ironic that the same electricity, for which the land and environmental heritage of the state is being sacrificed, will be costlier in Bihar than it is in Gujarat,” the Congress said.Important party leaders, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, LoP Rahul Gandhi, general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal, and Jairam Ramesh, general secretary in charge communications, were present in the meeting.