Rahul Gandhi to start poll campaign in MP from Omkareshwar in Sept

BHOPAL: AICC president Rahul Gandhi will start his election “yatra” in Madhya Pradesh from Omkareshwar temple on the first week of September. The decision was taken at the election strategy meeting of state Congress leaders with Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi on Tuesday morning. The exact date of the launch of yatra and the route of his roadshow will be planned by state PCC chief Kamal Nath and his team.

It was, however, made clear that the AICC president will be on an aggressive tour through the state, addressing public meetings very much in the style he adopted for Gujarat assembly elections.

But while Rahul Gandhi’s tour will be planned, Kamal Nath and MP from Guna Jyotiraditya Scindia will together go on a yatra across the state. State Congress president Kamal Nath will start the yatra on Wednesday after offering puja at the Maihar Mata temple in Satna district. He will address public meetings in Maihar and Rajnagar on Wednesday. Scindia will not be with him on the first day road-show but will soon join Nath for the other phases of the yatra.

Tuesday morning’s meeting with Rahul Gandhi was attended by all top Congress brass including state Congress president Kamal Nath, former chief minister Digvijaya Singh, state election campaign committee chairman Jyotiraditya Scindia, Leader of Opposition Ajay Singh, former Union minister Suresh Pachauri, Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankha, deputy leader of Opposition Bala Bachchan, senior MLA and former minister Ram Niwas Rawat and state party working president Jeetu Patwari. AICC general secretary in-charge of state affairs Deepak Babaria was also present.

Discussions were held on the prospective electoral alliance with BSP and Samajwadi Party. Sources in the party said that all leaders including Kamal Nath, Scindia and Digvijaya Singh left the electoral alliance decision on Rahul Gandhi. “It was said that electoral alliance cannot just be for Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh assembly elections because with the 2019 Lok Sabha polls next year, the coalition canvas is much bigger. And hence, the decision will have to be taken by the Congress president and the AICC,” a senior state Congress leader said.

Sources also said that Rahul Gandhi wants a manifesto which looks and reads like a people’s document and not a book. With more than 70% vote bank in the state being from the agricultural sector, the Congress president asked senior leaders to study and explore how the farm loan waiver promised by him can be implemented and effectively put into the manifesto. On the first anniversary of Mandsaur firing, Rahul Gandhi addressed a farmers’ rally in Mandsaur where he promised that if Congress comes to power in the state, all farm loan dues will be waived.

The matter of manhandling of AICC general secretary Deepak Babaria by party workers in Rewa on Sunday also came up during the meeting. A senior leader said that Babaria tackled the issue with a large-heart. He told Rahul Gandhi that there was no “malafide intention” behind the incident and asked everyone to forget that it happened.