New Delhi: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday (April 8) accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of carrying out a “well-planned conspiracy” against national heroes, and said that it was “laughable” that the BJP wanted to claim Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s legacy.Kharge accused the BJP of diverting attention from basic issues by carrying out communal division as the Congress announced its intentions for a “massive organisational” shuffle at the extended Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting in Ahmedabad.The extended CWC session with the theme “Nyay path: sankalp, samarpan aur sangharsh” (‘Path of justice: determination, dedication and struggle’) comes as the Congress looks to revive its fortunes and rebuild itself after a slew of assembly poll losses last year following its gains in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.“Today, attention is being diverted from the basic issues of the country by doing communal division [sic]. On the other hand, oligarchic monopoly is on the path of controlling the government by capturing the resources of the country,” said Kharge in his opening remarks at the meeting.The extended CWC meeting is being held in Ahmedabad ahead of Patel’s 150th birth anniversary in October.The party passed a resolution on Tuesday to uphold Patel’s legacy and accused the BJP of attempting to portray a divide between Patel and former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.“Friends, for the last several years a well-planned conspiracy is being carried out against many national heroes. An atmosphere is being created against the Congress party which has a glorious history of serving and fighting for the country for 140 years. This work is being done by those people who have nothing to show as their achievements. They have nothing to show as their contribution in the freedom struggle,” said Kharge.“They conspire to portray the relationship between Sardar Patel and Pandit Nehru as if the two heroes were against each other. Whereas the truth is that they were two sides of the same coin. Many incidents and documents are witness to their cordial relations.”Kharge cited a speech by Patel in 1937 when Nehru was Congress president and the youth of Gujarat wanted him to campaign for the provincial elections.“Sardar Patel said on March 7, 1937 that ‘The day Gujarat emerges victorious in this election movement and proves its loyalty to the Congress, we will welcome Congress president Nehru ji with flowers and welcome him with open arms’. You can understand how much Sardar Patel loved Nehru from this.“On 14th October 1949, Sardar Patel said in his congratulatory message to Nehru that, ‘No one knows better than me the tireless efforts Nehru ji has made for the country in the last two difficult years. During this time, I have seen him grow old very fast due to the burden of huge responsibilities.’“These things are recorded in the public record. There was almost daily correspondence between the two. Nehru used to take his advice on all matters,” he said.Kharge said that Patel’s ideology was contrary to the idea of the RSS and that he had even banned it. “But it is laughable that today the people of that organisation claim Sardar Patel’s legacy,” he said.The two-day long session in Ahmedabad will focus on organisational changes along with a national and a Gujarat-based resolution to be passed on April 9.The session, which is being held in Gujarat after 104 years, remains a symbolic choice as it plans to announce its organisational rehaul in a state considered as the BJP’s bastion and in which the Congress has not defeated the saffron party in three decades.“We are going to have a massive organisational reshuffle and there will be deadlines for the same. Our general secretaries and in-charges are on this job,” said Congress general secretary and Lok Sabha MP K.C. Venugopal at the end of Tuesday’s session.