New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi will kick start the party’s campaign for the upcoming Rajasthan Assembly elections from state capital Jaipur on Saturday.
Gandhi will travel from New Delhi to Jaipur in the morning, following which he will conduct a roadshow and interact with party workers. He will also visit at least two major temples in the city and return to Delhi in the evening.
“Rahul ji will land in Jaipur around 10am, where he will be welcomed by leaders and workers of the Rajasthan Congress unit. He will then carry out a roadshow through the city of Jaipur. Along the way, he will stop at two of the city’s more famous temples. He will seek the blessings of Lord Ganesh and Govind Devji and then move on to Jaipur’s Ramleela Maidan, where he will address party workers and Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) delegates from across the state," Pankaj Mehta, Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee (RPCC) General Secretary, told News18.com.
Gandhi’s two pit stops will be at Jaipur’s Moti Dungri Ganesh Temple and at the Govind Devji Temple, which is inside the Jaipur City Palace premises. Gandhi’s strategy of visiting temples is a continuation of the campaign in Gujarat in December last year, when he visited 27 temples across the state in the span of a month. While the Congress fell short of the majority mark, Gandhi’s ‘temple run’ helped the Congress increase its tally from 61 seats in 2012 to 77 seats in 2017 and also restricted the BJP’s tally to double digits.
While the Congress may not have given any indication as to who will the party’s chief ministerial face be, RPCC president Sachin Pilot and AICC General Secretary Ashok Gehlot will both be part of Gandhi’s roadshow and rally.
They will also be accompanied by AICC General Secretary In-charge for Rajasthan Avinash Pande. Speaking to News18.com, Pande said the purpose of Gandhi’s address was to “energise" the core cadre. “He will address party workers and speak about the corruption and lawlessness that has gripped the state under Vasundhara (Raje) ji. We will all work hard to ensure that the Congress party wins Rajasthan elections," Pande said.
Sources said the Congress was trying to figure out the logistics of the campaign for three big state elections lined up this year and had decided that instead of a month-long yatra, as in Gujarat or Uttar Pradesh last year, Gandhi would make 7-8 shorter trips to Rajasthan to effectively cover more ground.
“So far, the strategy is to have him come to the state frequently but for shorter time periods. Rahul is going to have a busy few months ahead and we (Rajasthan Congress) will have to share his time with our colleagues and friends from Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh," a senior Congress leader said.
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