Uttarakhand: Congress to take out padyatra against Centre from Monday

DEHRADUN: Congress will stage demonstration rallies and take out padyatras in the state from Monday to protest against the Centre's "conspiracy to dislodge" elected governments in several states, including the one headed by former chief minister Harish Rawat in Uttarakhand.

Pradesh Congress vice president Jot Singh Bisht said the proposed stir is the part of a country-wide agitation announced by the party's central leadership.

He said they would protest against the "undemocratic" methods the BJP-led central government adopted to "plot" the toppling of democratically-elected Congress governments.

Bisht said the party workers have been asked to gather at nearly 200 places, especially at the birthplaces or ancestral villages of freedom fighters from the state, martyrs of the statehood movement, and to take out from there "Save Democracy, Save Uttarakhand" yatras, which will be led by senior Congress leaders.

"They will extensively tour the Assembly constituencies in these yatras and interact with the people to publicise the steps taken by the state government and tell them how the BJP used money and muscle to throw democratically-elected, well-performing government out of power," Bisht said.

These yatras will also be conducted in the Assembly constituencies of the rebel Congress MLAs who "back-stabbed" the party and alligned with the BJP to create the political crisis in the state, he said.

The teams will converge at the party's state office here on April 18, exactly a month since the political crisis in the state began with nine party MLAs revolting against Harish Rawat-led government, he said.

They will then proceed to Mahatma Gandhi's statue nearby where they will reiterate their pledge to protect democratic institutions in the country, Bisht said.