00:00And we have now news coming in from Kerala where Rahul Gandhi is visiting and it seems he has
00:13sounded the poll bugle in Kerala. Rahul has upped the ante against the BJP and the RSS in Kochi.
00:21Rahul said that BJP and RSS don't want to hear the people's voice. In fact, he said that the
00:28BJP actually stands for Centralization of Power while we stand for Decentralization of Power.
00:39I'd like to congratulate everybody who took part in the local body elections and gave a superb result
00:52for the Congress Party and the UDF. We had a superb performance at all levels,
01:00Gram Panchayat, Block Panchayat, District Panchayat, Municipality and Corporation.
01:07And I'm especially happy that we have done well because the Panchayat, the third tier of government,
01:15is the foundation of our democratic system.
01:22So clearly Rahul Gandhi there at a function which was actually meant to felicitate those
01:28who won the local body polls. And joining us live right now is India Today's Shibhimol K.G.
01:34who is at the event right now. Shibhimol, do tell us how was the event going?
01:40And also Rahul Gandhi seems to be giving a rallying war cry over there to the Carders.
01:52Well, you know, this was an event organized by the Congress in Kerala as part of the election campaign
01:58that's been ongoing in the state since January. In fact, you know, from January course to onwards,
02:03the Congress had planned multiple programs as part of the election campaign.
02:06And this was the Congress unofficially launching their election campaign for the 2026 Assembly elections.
02:11In fact, a lot of Congress workers had gathered. This was Maha Panchayat where Rahul Gandhi
02:16was addressing the elected representatives of the Congress party in the recently local body polls.
02:21Remember, the Congress had a massive victory in the local body polls.
02:24Local body polls are elections where we usually see the left gaining an edge.
02:29But this time the Congress dismantled left even in their strongholds also.
02:33This has given the Congress massive confidence going into the Assembly elections.
02:37Rahul Gandhi delivered a speech on what the Congress is going to, you know, deliver if
02:42they are elected to power. He spoke about unemployment issues.
02:45He spoke about many youth going out of the country, migration and all these issues,
02:50and said that the Congress, if elected to power, will find solutions for all these issues.
02:55He attacked the center also, the BJP government at the center, on multiple issues, including Manrega.
03:00Usually we hear Rahul Gandhi after speaking about center.
03:05He does touch the topic of Inraya Vijayan and the LDF government here.
03:08Today he did not specifically hit out at the left government here.
03:12Only said that there's a political battle taking place in Kerala,
03:16while there's an ideological battle at the national level.
03:18Right. Thank you Ushibhi for all those details.
