Rahul Gandhi to make night halts across poll-bound states
As the leader readies to tour India, beginning with Orissa and poll-bound Karnataka, sources indicate Mr Gandhi will be staying at each of the places he visits, giving him the opportunity to mix with local communities.
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi's night halt with a Dalit family in UP recently is set to be the first of other such reach-out exercises the leader will undertake in the coming months. As the leader readies to tour India, beginning with Orissa and poll-bound Karnataka, party sources indicated that Mr Gandhi will be ���staying��� at each of the places he visits, giving him the opportunity to mix with local communities.
The Congress leader is also expected to hold ���jan sabhas��� (meet-the-people exercises) and ���nukkad (street side) meetings��� in rural and semi-rural areas in the two states. This is different from the mostly-urban itinerary he followed in Gujarat during the recent assembly elections. Party sources said his tours for each state would be planned in advance in such a way that he has enough time for every place he visits. Mr Gandhi���s tour, which will begin from Orissa on March 4, will also have youth-centred activity, party leaders said.
After his trips to Orissa and Karnataka, he will attend a two-day full-delegate session of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) on March 28-29. Next in line is a rally in Kanpur. Congress president Sonia Gandhi will attend the same. Mr Gandhi will be attending a meeting of the party���s UP coordination committee in Allahabad, sometime in April.
This hectic activity is meant to convey that the Mr Gandhi is entering the political field in a full-fledged manner. But there are apprehensions whether the party can cash in the youth plank used by him to fashion his political image.
Presently, almost all Congress activities ranging from party reorganisation, to the budget, to exercises aimed at reviewing the party���s functioning are being dusted with ���Rahul magic���. But senior Congress leaders are admitting that ���Gandhi-family magic��� is on the wane, after Ms Gandhi said that neither she nor Rahul had a ���magic wand��� to revive the party at the AICC meeting in 2007.
Within the party, leaders are worried that the youth cadre, under the charge of Mr Gandhi, is not ���fired up��� about working for the Congress as before. Mr Gandhi will thus have to do something more than put in token appearances in Dalit homes to change the impression that he cannot pull up the Congress��� tally beyond Amethi and Rae Bareli.
The Congress leader is also expected to hold ���jan sabhas��� (meet-the-people exercises) and ���nukkad (street side) meetings��� in rural and semi-rural areas in the two states. This is different from the mostly-urban itinerary he followed in Gujarat during the recent assembly elections. Party sources said his tours for each state would be planned in advance in such a way that he has enough time for every place he visits. Mr Gandhi���s tour, which will begin from Orissa on March 4, will also have youth-centred activity, party leaders said.
After his trips to Orissa and Karnataka, he will attend a two-day full-delegate session of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) on March 28-29. Next in line is a rally in Kanpur. Congress president Sonia Gandhi will attend the same. Mr Gandhi will be attending a meeting of the party���s UP coordination committee in Allahabad, sometime in April.
This hectic activity is meant to convey that the Mr Gandhi is entering the political field in a full-fledged manner. But there are apprehensions whether the party can cash in the youth plank used by him to fashion his political image.
Presently, almost all Congress activities ranging from party reorganisation, to the budget, to exercises aimed at reviewing the party���s functioning are being dusted with ���Rahul magic���. But senior Congress leaders are admitting that ���Gandhi-family magic��� is on the wane, after Ms Gandhi said that neither she nor Rahul had a ���magic wand��� to revive the party at the AICC meeting in 2007.
Within the party, leaders are worried that the youth cadre, under the charge of Mr Gandhi, is not ���fired up��� about working for the Congress as before. Mr Gandhi will thus have to do something more than put in token appearances in Dalit homes to change the impression that he cannot pull up the Congress��� tally beyond Amethi and Rae Bareli.
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