From CK Nayak
NEW DELHI: Luizinho Faleiro, the AICC general secretary in charge Meghalaya, will visit Shillong on Sunday, a day before the Bharat bandh called by the party, along with MPs and other dignitaries.
Faleiro has requested CLP leader Mukul Sangma, MPCC president Celestine Lyngdoh, all frontal heads of the party and office bearers to actively lead the agitation. Both the Congress MPs, Vincent H Pala and Wansuk Syiem, are reaching Shillong with Faleiro.
In Delhi, Faleiro met MPs and other leaders, and treasurer Ahmed Patel. In a significant decision, Faleiro, an old hand on North East, sent MLA Charles Pyngrope to Nagaland as coordinator to supervise the Bharat bandh programme, an AICC notification said.
The Congress on last Thursday announced a nationwide protest over unprecedented fuel price hike. It has also received support from key opposition parties for the bandh from 9am and 3pm, which will include symbolic sit-ins at petrol pumps and protests in other places.
This is the first big pan-India ground campaign that the Congress party will run to take on the BJP government before crucial assembly elections in four states in a month or two. The decision was taken after a meeting of top party leaders, including general secretaries, chiefs of state units and other senior functionaries.
Faleiro, on his maiden visit to the state, will also have a meeting of the party and fine-tune the bandh programme. ( He urged party workers to explain to the public the huge gap on all fuel prices — crude, petrol, diesel, LPG etc during the last UPA regime and now under BJP-led NDA government.
