Rahul to address Congress leaders in Jaipur on August 11

JAIPUR: Congress president Rahul Gandhi will address the party's state delegates here on August 11. Sources said the Congress president may hold a roadshow and visit Moti Dungri Ganesh Mandir and Govind Devji Temple to counter BJP's temple politics, before addressing the delegates.

The Congress president's visit to the state, which has been planned for long, was finalised at the party's meeting held in New Delhi on Monday. The BJP has got into the election mode already.

"The Congress president will come to Jaipur on Saturday (August 11) and address the party's delegates," Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Sachin Pilot told TOI soon after the meeting. Pilot, along with AICC general secretary in-charge of the state Avinash Pande, was present at the meeting.


Rahul may visit Govind Devji temple

It was widely perceived that Rahul would address a public assembly like BJP president Amit Shah, who flagged off chief minister Vasundhara Raje’s Guarav Yatra from the famous Charbhuja Temple in Rajsamand district last Saturday.

Contrary to reports that Congress would get into the election mode with a visit to one of the prominent temples in Shekhawati region (Sikar-Jhunjhunu), Rahul is visiting Jaipur and is likely to seek blessings from the Moti Dungri Ganesh Mandir in keeping with the Hindu tradition of worshiping Lord Ganesh at the start on any auspicious work. Sources said he may go to the temple of Jaipur’s deity Govind Devji too.

During the one-day visit, Rahul will address party delegates, including senior leaders, former and present MPs/ MLAs, office-bearers from PCC/DCC/BCC and frontal organisations, among others. “We are yet to finalise the finer details his programme,” Pilot said.

Earlier in the day, the party’s city unit held a protest against Raje’s ongoing 40-day state tour and demanded that the chief minister visit the family of farmer Manglaram Meghwal (36), who committed suicide allegedly after the government sent him a notice to impound his agriculture land. “If the CM has any compassion and pain feels for the farmers, she should immediately give up her fake ‘gaurav’ (honour) yatra and meet the deceased peasant’s family,” Congress city president Pratap Singh Khachariyawas said, addressing the protest at the Civil Lines railway crossing.

Khachariyawas demanded the CM to grant compensation to Meghwal’s kin and apologise to the family. “The CM had announced that her government has waived farmers’ loans. But the suicide by the Nagaur farmer has exposed her government’s fake claim,” he said. The Congress leader alleged that Raje was misusing taxpayers’ money to campaign for BJP ahead of the state polls due in December.