New Delhi, Jun 11 (PTI) The Congress' top brass held a meeting with general secretaries, in-charges and state unit chiefs on Thursday and asserted that the party's responsibility is not only toward political struggle, but also toward safeguarding India's Constitution, democracy, and social justice.

During the meeting, the current political situation and the party's plans going forward were deliberated upon, sources said.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretaries Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, K C Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh, Bhupesh Baghel, in-charges, PCC chiefs, among others, participated.

In a post in Hindi on X, Kharge said today, the country is facing serious challenges such as inflation, unemployment, exam scandals, and social inequality.

"Paper leaks in NEET and various recruitment exams, along with controversies related to the education system, have shaken the trust of millions of youth and their families. Shri Rahul Gandhi has personally met with affected students and youth and has firmly presented their voice before the nation," Kharge, who presided over the meeting, said.

"Today, unfortunately, we see that those institutions and systems which took decades to build are being deliberately weakened. Therefore, our responsibility is not only toward political struggle, but also toward safeguarding India's Constitution, democracy, and social justice," he asserted.

The meeting comes amid a row over the issue of rejection of Congress' Madhya Pradesh candidate Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination for the Rajya Sabha polls.

It also comes in the wake of the TMC political crisis with many of its MPs and MLAs staging a revolt.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee held a meeting here on Wednesday, amid efforts by the opposition INDIA bloc to strengthen coordination and maintain unity.

The meeting at 10 Janpath took place a day after Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee met former Congress president Sonia Gandhi at her residence and discussed ways to further consolidate the opposition alliance.

Also, earlier this week, INDIA bloc members met here and unanimously decided to demand Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's immediate resignation over the NEET-CBSE row. They also decided to write to the chief justice of India on the SIR exercise and “vote loot”.

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