Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka’s joint rally on Dec 12 to be their first in Rajasthan

Former Jaipur mayor Jyoti Khandelwal, a Congress leader, has asked Sonia Gandhi to put off the joint rally planned in Jaipur in view of an increase Covid-19 cases and as a mark of respect to CDS Gen Bipin Rawat, his wife and 11 military personnel who lost their lives in a chopper crash.

JAIPUR: Rajasthan is going to witness the first Congress rally on December 12 where Congress president Sonia Gandhi, senior leaders Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi will be seen together on the dais, a senior Congress leader said.

Congress leader Ajay Maken Maken has told party leaders to ensure that people who come to the December 12 mega rally have received both Covid vaccine doses and tested negative to the coronavirus disease within 72 hours of the rally. (PTI)

“This will be the first time that the three leaders from the Gandhi family will together address people in Rajasthan,” a senior Congress leader said. He added that the last time Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were seen in the state was in 2013 when Rahul was appointed as the party vice president.

It is also for the first time that a national-level rally is happening outside Delhi.

A second Congress leader said the state’s ministers, legislators and party leaders have been told to ensure the presence of a large number of people at the venue, Vidhyadhar Nagar Stadium, at what he said, will be a mega rally against inflation in Jaipur.

AICC general secretary Ajay Maken and state party chief Govind Singh Dotasara who reviewed the preparations with state ministers a day earlier held another review meeting with state Congress leaders to prep for the rally.

Ajay Maken told party workers and leaders to ensure that people who join the rally have received both Covid vaccine doses and tested negative to the coronavirus disease within 72 hours of the rally.

Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot has claimed that the rally will mark the beginning of the NDA’s downfall and a win for the Congress in Rajasthan’s next assembly elections.

Maken’s emphasis on vaccination and negative test for people who attend the rally is aimed at ensuring that the gathering of tens of thousands of people does not lead to the spread of Covid-19 infection.

The Rajasthan High Court has rejected a petition that sought to stop the rally on the ground that it will pose a severe hazard but the court ruled that there was no law to ban such a gathering after restrictions were eased.

The number of active Covid-19 cases in Rajasthan on Wednesday reached 236, with a maximum of 119 in Jaipur, followed by 22 in Bikaner, 18 in Ajmer, and 13 in Alwar.

The call to put off the Congress rally received some support from former Jaipur mayor Jyoti Khandelwal who sent a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, suggesting that the party postpone the event in view of the increasing Covid-19 cases and in the remembrance of the chief of defence staff Gen Bipin Rawat, his wife and 11 other personnel of the armed forces.

She said the Congress should treat public health as a priority and put off the rally, and use social media to power the party’s pitch against the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.

Khandelwal, who was the party’s Lok Sabha candidate from Jaipur, said the party should postpone programmes for seven days as part of respect to the military personnel who died in the chopper crash.