Congress or the Indian National Congress (INC) is one of two major political parties in India. It was founded in 1885 and played a leading role in India’s Independence movement. It has ruled during most of India’s independent years and gave the country its first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Leadership of the Congress too has been dominated by the Nehru-Gandhi family.
The Congress is a center-left party, and lists on its website democracy, nationalism, secularism, inclusive growth and social justice as its core values. It last ruled India between 2004 and 2014, but has since lost its sway, being reduced to just 52 seats in the 2019 General Elections. INDIA, the alliance headed by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, was an attempt to bring together opposition parties against the BJP government for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Together, the INDIA Alliance secured 238 of the 543 seats in the Lok Sabha. The Congress won 99 of these.
The fight against corrupt parties and leaders will be one of the themes for the Gujarat election, according to a leading columnist. That message could be dented if Mr Narayan Rane is inducted into the state government next door.