Battleground UP: Rahul on ‘mahayatra’ from Sept 6

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 29

Eyeing power in Uttar Pradesh, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi will soon embark on an extensive road journey through the heart of the state, hoping to connect to the people there.

The 2,500-km journey, which the Congress general secretary in charge of UP Ghulam Nabi Azad today described as a “mahayatra” will begin on September 6 and crisscross state’s 55 Lok Sabha segments; 233 Assembly constituencies and 39 districts before culminating in Delhi.

Azad did not offer any details of when the journey would conclude saying that it would not be longer than a month. UP has 80 Lok Sabha segments; 403 assembly segments and 83 districts with Rahul Gandhi planning a pretty ambitious outreach.

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Asked if he would visit Ayodhya, the site of Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute during his travel, Azad remained tight lipped saying: “You will know where he will go.” The travel will start from Rudrapur in Deoria district of UP on September 6 with the party now yet clear about the manner in which to end the show.

On whether the culmination would be in the form of a public rally in Delhi, Azad said, “We are yet to decide the manner of culmination.”

Rahul plans only small corner meetings across the areas of travel and no public rally as against what BSP chief Mayawati has been doing with tremendous success. The Congress, still unsure of whether its public rally in UP, would get voter traction, is proceeding slowly and has decided to hold only road shows during Rahul Gandhi’s show.

Azad said Rahul will meet farmers, unorganised workers, women and youth during his journey in UP. On how the party selected the 233 segments for Rahul’s journey, Congress said these segments would help the party cover maximum ground, including UP’s rural hinterland. The party, however, maintained a studied silence on whether Ayodhya and PM Narendra Modi’s Lok Sabha segment Varanasi would fall in Rahul’s poll plan given party’s recent efforts to balance its pro-minority image.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s visit to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi was part of this approach. Sonia was unable to visit the shrine as she took ill on the evening of her road show in the segment.