Amid escalating infighting in the Congress in Chhattisgarh, party’s vice-president Rahul Gandhi ignored party’s bigwig Ajit Jogi on Monday as the Gandhi scion made open lengthy interactions with people affected by mining or development projects to question the development model of BJP regime at the Centre and in Chhattisgarh.
Gandhi landed in Bilaspur around 8.30 am and drove straight to Madanpur in coal-rich Korba district and on the way he refused to meet Renu Jogi, the party MlA of Kota seat, who wanted to meet the Amethi MP for a few seconds along with dozens of Congress cadres who came from remote areas to have a glance of Gandhi.
At Mandanpur, Gandhi had a taste of bitter feud between former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi and the present PCC chief Bhupesh Baghel as Jogi’s name was deliberately kept out by PCC for the leaders who were allowed to have space on dais. Jogi had to struggle hard to make his way to the dais.
Taking a potshot at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s development model in Korba during interaction with poor men and women, Gandhi assailed the BJP regime at the Centre and in Chhattisgarh as well for working Rsjust for two or three industrialists and ignoring the interests of common people’.
During his one by one interaction with tribal in Korba district, Gandhi remarked, RsRsin your fight for right on jal, jungle and jamin (water, forest and land) Congress will always stand by you’’.
Referring to NDA's ordinance on land that removed clauses for taking consent of farmers and carrying out social audit before acquiring land and modified the provision to return acquired land if it was not utilised within five years, Gandhi said sarcastically, "Modiji said that development is needed. So there is no need to ask anybody."
Gandhi held lengthy discussion with locals at Mandanpur and also in Kudmura, both in Korba district and advised locals to step up protests against the Chhattisgarh government’s projects that had displaced them.
Gandhi is scheduled to undertake a four-hour-long Rspadyatra’ in Janjgir Champa district on Tuesday where lands of hundreds of farmers were acquired in recent years allegedly at throwaway prices by state government to allow private companies to set up mega coal power plants.