Buoyed by the success of Congress president Sonia Gandhi's Varanasi roadshow, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi is now scheduled to undertake an over-2500 kilometre mahayatra from Deoria in the Poorvanchal region of eastern Uttar Pradesh. The mahayatra will culminate in Delhi early next month.
Rahul's journey from September 6 will traverse as many as 233 Assembly constituencies to reach out to people ahead of crucial polls slated early next year in Uttar Pradesh. Rahul's programme was announced by AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad, who said the Congress vice president would travel through 39 districts of Uttar Pradesh covering 2,500 km in the nearly month-long exercise.
The mahayatra is a programme organised after the successful road show of Sonia Gandhi earlier this month and the two yatras of State party leaders, which are currently going through various districts of the State. Before undertaking the crucial poll yatra, the Gandhi scion would be on a three-day
visit to his parliamentary constituency from Wednesday onwards.
Azad, who is in charge of party affairs in UP, said no big public meeting is being planned during the mahayatra, in which Rahul will address small rallies as the party will also hold road shows in towns along the way.
"The Yatra will finally end in Delhi.” Asked if the Congress vice-president would visit Ayodhya as part of the mahayatra, Azad evaded a direct answer, saying, "He would visit places that would come on the way.”
While numerous road shows in large towns and cities have been scheduled, Rahul is also likely to engage in khaat sabhas in at least 21 districts. Azad claimed that Rahul's interaction with party workers and Sonia's roadshows have been a success so far.’