Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Monday conveyed to party leaders that he wanted to join the Parivartan Yatra of Chhattisgarh Congress that will restart from June 16, but was dissuaded to do so in view of the recent Naxal attack which had killed the State PCC president Nand Kumar Patel and senior leader Mahendra Karma.
The decision to restart the yatra in the poll-bound Chhattisgarh was taken by Rahul at a meeting with the recently appointed acting president of Pradesh Congress Committee Charan Das Mahant, programme coordinator of PCC Bhupesh Baghel and ClP leader Ravindra Choube. The meeting was also attended by AICC general secretary in-charge of Chhattisgarh BK Hariprasad and veteran leader from the State Motilal Vora and general secretary Janardan Dwivedi.
“Rahulji wanted to attend the Parivartan Yatra that will start from June 16 from Keslur, but we have asked him not to do so. Instead he can attend a rally at Jagdalpur by July-end after the yatra is over,” Mahant told The Pioneer.
Instead, Rahul will now meet tribal leaders from Bastar on Friday to know the problems being faced by them carrying in political activities. The tribals from the region would brief him about their difficulties in view of the Naxal menace and what measures could be taken to strengthen the Congress base in the region.
Rahul also asked the State leaders to take adequate security measures for the Parivartan Yatra which was stopped following the May 25 Maoist attack that killed 27 people and injured many others.
Though 30 companies of Central paramilitary forces have been given to the State, they were not adequately used by the Raman Singh Government and also there was lack of coordination resulting in the tragedy. So, now apart from the State Government forces and police, the Congress vice-president has told the State leaders that he would ask the Central Government to provide more forces for peaceful completion of the yatra, Mahant said.
The meeting also discussed organisational changes to strengthen the party and cleared the names of leaders to fill the vacant posts in the State Congress unit.
Meanwhile, during the ongoing rainy season, the Congress will continue with door-to-door campaign to create awareness about the corruption of the Raman Singh Government, misuse of Central funds and how land and water resources of tribals is being sold by the State Government to outsiders, he said.