Nation in grip of corporates

Thiruvananthapuram: Congress leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi on Thursday alleged that "one or two corporate" are controlling the country and added that this is not good for democracy.

Gandhi said the farmers of the country have still not got a clear picture on the farm laws and the agitation could flare up again. He was speaking at a public function in Wayanad.

The former Congress chief said that the Congress and UDF would sweep the upcoming Assembly polls in Kerala and added that several new faces will be contesting the election.

Gandhi, who is in the State for the past couple of days, had interacted with girl students and had even asked a schoolgirl to translate his speech. He had called upon the girls students to be independent and equal to boys and asked them to be active in all walks of life.

Gandhi was also involved in a series of discussions with senior State Congress leaders and its ally the Indian Union Muslim League regarding the sharing of seats. He is keen that a large number of women and youth contest the next election on Congress tickets.

With the Congress and the UDF on the back foot following the recent Kerala local body elections, where the ruling LDF had swept the polls, the Congress is active with altering of strategies including bringing in former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy as the chairman of the election supervisory committee as well as Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor as member of the election manifesto committee.

The State Congress is expecting Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi as their star campaigners in the 2021 Assembly elections, likely to take place in mid-April and the Congress is in a do-or-die battle to wrest power from the LDF.