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Congress kicks off Jan Aakrosh Yatra from 7 Madhya Pradesh districts; to cover 220 seats
Specially designed vehicles have been brought from Hyderabad for the yatra, which aims to be a massive show of strength by the Congress.
Bhopal: The Congress on Tuesday kicked off Jan Aakrosh (public anger) Yatra from seven districts in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh.The yatra would cover221 of the 230 assembly segments across the state over the next 20 days.
On Tuesday, leader of opposition in the state assembly Govind Singh flagged off the yatra from Sheopur, Arun Yadav from Damoh, Ajay Singh from Rewa, Jitendra (Jitu) Patwari from Mandsaur, Kamleshwar Patel from Singrauli, Kantilal Bhuria from Jhabua and Suresh Pachori from Hoshangabad. MP Congress Committee president and former chief minister Kamal Nath will lead the yatras.
Specially designed vehicles have been brought from Hyderabad for the yatra, which aims to be a massive show of strength by the Congress.
READ | MP elections: Congress to take out ‘Jan Aakrosh Yatra’ from September 15
“These yatras will focus mainly on local issues of unemployment, inflation and corruption. The Congress will make people aware about how the BJP-led state government duped common people and now trying to woo them by making fake announcements,” state in-charge and Congress senior leader Randeep Surjewala said.
As part of the rallies, the leaders will distribute a four-page booklet titled “Ghotala Hi Ghotala- Ghotala Baaz — 50% Commissionraaj”, which will contain details of all the major scams during the tenure of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, an official familiar with the matter said.
However, questions are being raised over the absence of former chief minister and Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh from the posters.
READ | In U-turn, Rajasthan BJP says it won’t suspend ‘Jan Aakrosh Yatra’ over Covid
Surjewala said Singh was part of a think tank and helped the party decide poll strategy. “He is a part of the team in making policies and taking decisions. We have given different responsibilities to different leaders so there is no point of ignoring him,” he added.
“Congress is trying to create a fresh image of the party and the leaders don’t want to carry any old image especially that was created during the regime of Digvijaya Singh’s 10 years tenure till 2003,” said a senior national Congress leader.
A senior leader familiar with the matter said the Congress will use the yatra to help it decide candidates. “The list of candidates halted for some time because of yatras. The success of candidates will be decided with the response given to the yatra. The candidates have been asked to be aware as many people about fake promises of BJP so that they can come forward in support to Congress. The survey team will check this also,” said the leader, who didn’t want to be named.
The Congress’s yatra comes ahead of the culmination of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Jan Ashirward Yatra in Bhopal on September 25. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to address the “mahakumbh”, or mega gathering, of BJP workers on the occasion.
BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal, however, took a jibe on the Congress over the yatra, saying: “Congress leaders on one side is a part of alliance that talk about abolishing Sanatan and on other side they do show off of pooja. The voters will not rely on this double standard of Congress and its leaders.”
