Delhi Confidential: Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma back in business for Congress

Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma, the prominent faces of the G 23, had not been addressing press conferences at the AICC headquarters ever since the letter by the 23 leaders surfaced in 2020.

Sonia Gandhi

With the Enforcement Directorate having summoned Sonia Gandhi for questioning again, the Congress will field veterans Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma on Wednesday to defend the party chief and attack the BJP government. Azad and Sharma, the prominent faces of the G 23, had not been addressing press conferences at the AICC headquarters ever since the letter by the 23 leaders surfaced in 2020. Both of them were conspicuously missing when the party waged street protests last month during Rahul Gandhi’s questioning. The two were at the AICC headquarters last week when Sonia was called for questioning for the first time. The two will be joined by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

Local flavour: The Congress’s communication strategy saw a bit of innovation on Tuesday, the day Sonia Gandhi appeared before the ED. The party made its MPs from various states, who had assembled for a protest and were also detained, to record short video clips in their respective languages. The videos were posted on the party’s social media accounts and circulated on its WhatsApp groups. Among others, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury recorded a video in Bangla, Gaurav Gogoi in Assamese, Shaktisinh Gohil in Gujarati, Hibi Eden in Malayalam, Mukul Wasnik in Marathi, L Hanumanthaiah in Kannada and Ravneet Singh Bittu in Punjabi. The MPs spoke about the alleged misuse of investigating agencies by the government and the stalemate in Parliament over the Opposition’s demand for a discussion on the price rise and hike in GST rates.

Promotion, CSR: The Centre on Tuesday said the expenditures by companies on promotion of the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign will come under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The campaign is aimed at invoking the feeling of patriotism among the people and to promote awareness about the Tricolour, Corporate Affairs ministry said in a circular. “It is clarified that spending of CSR funds for the activities related to this campaign, such as mass-scale production and supply of the national flag, outreach and amplification efforts and other related activities, are eligible for CSR activities…,” the circular said.