To give new boost to her Party candidate Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi held a road show in the state capital on Thursday. The supporters and local public greeted Gandhi scion with shower of rose petals all through the route amidst slogans in support of Congress and Rita Bahuguna.
late by around 90 minutes, Rahul started his road show from lucknow University and went through Hazratganj, Vidhan Sabha Marg, Charbagh, Alambagh to Amausi Airport. The Congress leader atop a SUV along with Ms Joshi, shook hands with the people and waved to the passers-by. At Naka Hindola Gurudwara, Rahul was greeted by youths from the Sikh community led by Party youth leader Prabhujot aka `lucky’. A host of Congress leader which included Zeeshan Haider, RP Singh, Amarnath Agarwal, Siddharth Srivastava, JP Singh etc along with members of Traders Association and Railway Employees Unions welcomed Rahul Gandhi and forwarded their full support to the Party and assured of Rita Bahuguna’s victory.
Reports said that confusion also prevailed near Hussainganj crossing when some people were found distributing paper mask of Narendra Modi to the youths and children who were standing to watch the road show. Surprisingly, the reports of protest by a section of the Shia community, the Congress vice-president avoided the minority dominated busy Chowk area during his road-show this time.
Earlier during his three election meetings at Hargaon in Sitapur lok Sabha constituency, at Sandila in Mishrikh lok Sabha seat and in Jaulan, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi attacked Gujarat CM and BJP PM candidate Narendra Modi over the ‘snoopgate’ controversy, and claimed that the Gujarat government has no regard for women as it gets their phones tapped. ‘’ Modi gave 45,000 acres of agricultural land to an industrialist though no industry has been set up there till date and claimed farmers in Gujarat would have starved to death had the Centre not implemented MNREGA,’’ he claimed.
‘The Gujarat government has no regard for women as they get their phones tapped while Congress respects women and believes in empowering them,’ the Congress Vice President said. Criticising the ‘Gujarat model’ of development, Rahul said, ‘If the UPA government had not implemented NREGA, farmers of Gujrat could have died of hunger’. lamenting on misrule of the Samajwadi Party government in UP, Gandhi said youths from the state go out in search of employment and when they go to Maharashtra they are beaten and forced to go back home by the Shiv Sena and the BJP. Also targeting BSP supremo Mayawati, he accused her of robbing the land of poor farmers and amassing wealth during her regime.