Mysuru: The two-day National Executive Committee meet  of the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) has resolved to support the move to elevate Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi as the Congress President.

The INTUC said that it will help the party to elevate the Party’s Vice-President ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in May 2019. It said Rahul’s elevation will help galvanise the party cadres leading to better performance.

The meet, which concluded on Sunday at Hotel Le Ruchi on Hunsur Road here, resolved to support the Congress move, to make Rahul the party Chief.

Speaking to press persons at Jaladarshini Guest House after the meet, INTUC National President G. Sanjeeva Reddy said that the INTUC has endorsed the view among senior Congress leaders that Rahul should take over the mantle of the party.

Lashing out at Union Labour and Employment Minister Bandaru Dattatreya for not addressing labour issues, Reddy demanded the resignation of the Minister.  Alleging that Dattatreya had failed to protect the interest of the labour force in the country, he urged Prime Minster Narendra Modi to drop Dattatreya from the Cabinet.

Accusing the BJP-led NDA Government of trying to weaken INTUC, Reddy said that the INTUC will take up the issue of privatisation of Public Sector Units (PSUs) across the country.  Critical of the move to privatise BEML,he said that the INTUC will extend support to BEML Employees Association to stop privatisation moves.

Reddy further said that a national -level rally will be organised at New Delhi on  Aug. 8 to oppose the anti-labour and anti-people policies of the Union Government.

INTUC office-bearers S.S. Prakasham, District Congress President Dr. B.J. Vijaykumar, ZP Member Manjunath, leaders Mavinahalli Ravi, Dhananjaya, Venkatesh,Vishakantamurthy and Prakash Kumar were present at the meet.

No consensus on merger of HMS with INTUC

The two-day meet which deliberated on the merger of Hind Mazdur Sabha (HMS) with INTUC, failed to arrive at a consensus on the possible merger.

Anup Singh of Haryana, stressing on the need  for the merger of the two National Unions, maintained that the merger will bring more strength to the labour force across the country.

While most of the INTUC members endorsed Anup Singh’s opinion, some expressed reservation about the merger saying that it needed more elaborate deliberations.