Congress vice- president Rahul Gandhi will embark upon his longest yatra in his political career from Deoria on Tuesday in an effort to end the 27 year political exile of the party in Uttar Pradesh besides preparing grounds for the comeback of the Congress at the Centre in 2019.
Gandhi is very enthused about his proposed ‘Deoria to Delhi Kisan yatra’ to launch the party’s Mission Uttar Pradesh for 2017 assembly polls. “My Deoria to Delhi yatra from September 6 is a campaign to get the rights of the poor, farmers and labourers in the government funds”, Gandhi reacted through his official twitter handle.
Congress poll strategist Prashant Kishor, popularly known as ‘PK,’ has now come up with an innovative idea by planning ‘Khat Sabha’ (charpoy meeting) during the Congress vice-president’s proposed 2500-km ‘Deoria se Dilli Kisan Yatra,’ starting from Tuesday.
The party will also go from Door-to-door to seek support for the debt waiver scheme for the farmers for this Congress would engage 250 ‘ Mang Rath’, a yellow colour Congress brand vehicle.
According to the first day programme of the Yatra, it will start from Pachaldi Kritpura village in Rudrapur assembly constituency in Daub area on Tuesdaymorning. The assembly seat is presently represented by Congress member Akhilesh Pratap Singh, a close confidante of the Gandhi family. The first khat sabha would be held at Dudhnath Baba Mandir maidan at 11:50 am for over an hour. later Gandhi will hold a road show on Rudrapur road covering around 2.7 kilometers. Congress vice president will also interact with farmers at Kanchanpur village in Deoria before entering Kushinagar on the same evening.
The yatra from Deoria is chosen as the district was native of famous Deoraha Baba, whom the former prime minister Indira Gandhi sought blessings both before 1977 and later in 1980 and won polls by huge margins. Rahul now ambitious to ensure a come back of the party has decided to kick off his campaign from this pious land for the coming Assembly elections.
In these khat meeting around 70 to 80 farmers would sit on the ‘khats’ and Gandhi would interact with them personally by going to their homes.
On the second day, on September 7, Gandhi will start from Gorakhpur, and will end in Basti after crossing Sant kabir Nagar district. The Yatra covering 39 districts, 55 lok Sabha constituencies and 233 assembly segments, Gandhi, who would pass through Ayodhya, and could make a brief stop for the darshan of ‘Ram lalla’ and other temples.