A day after the activists of Bundelkhand Mukti Morcha greeted him with slogans demanding statehood, as he took night safari to dalit and tribal villages in this region the Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday tried to make an assessment of ground realities on separate Bundelkhand
issue.
Rahul called the district party leaders and the Union Minister of State for Rural Development Pradeep Jain Aditya this morning to get their feedback on Bundelkhand issue before leaving for Amethi to review party's preparations for Vidhan Parishad (local bodies constituency) elections in Sultanpur and Rae Bareli districts. The elections to 36 Vidhan Parishad constituencies are scheduled to be held on January 7, 2010.
At Jhansi airport the Congressmen who met Rahul handed him over a copy of Bundelkhand Mukti Morcha's memorandum and briefed him about the local problems and issues. "We handed over to him a copy of the memorandum demanding statehood. Rahul went through the memorandum but didn't say anything after reading it," said the District Congress Committee president Jhansi Sudhansu Tripathi while speaking to Hindustan Times.
Rahul had kept the Congressmen at a distance on the first day of his visit as he tried to focus on the functioning of Self Help Groups (SHGs) that the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation has constituted in the region on the pattern of SHGs working in Rae Bareli and Amethi.
"We thanked Rahul Gandhi for his efforts to give new dimensions to problem and bring development to the region," said Pradeep Jain, "adding, "we also thanked Rahul for his efforts to get special package for Bundelkhand." Tripathi pointed out that Rahul's efforts to set up a central agriculture university have been fruitful and the Centre was soon going to set up the new varsity after merging agro-forestry institute and the grassland fodder institute. On Monday night Rahul had visited dalit and tribal dominated villages in the nearby area.
On Tuesday morning Rahul went to nearby cantonment area in Babina. Rahul also visited a firing range and met army personnel there. No officer from army however came on record to give details about Rahul's visit to firing range.