TIL Desk/National/UP-About 2,000 khaats or cots have been laid out in Rudrapur town of Uttar Pradesh to seat participants of Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi’s meeting with farmers. The “khaat sabha” is part of an extensive tour of Uttar Pradesh that Gandhi begins today, aimed at energising party cadre and informing voters that the Congress is making a real bid at winning the state after 27 years. UP will vote for a new assembly early next year.
The 46-year-old Congress leader starts his 2,500-km “yatra” or journey from Deoria in eastern UP. “My yatra from Deoria to Delhi starting September 6 is a campaign to secure the rights of the poor, farmers and labourers in government resources,” Gandhi said. He aims to cover 223 of Uttar Pradesh’s 403 assembly constituencies over almost a month.
A chunk of the yatra will be conducted on foot as Gandhi goes door-to-door in villages collecting a charter of farmers’ demands. As he drives through UP, local Congress leaders will join him for his interaction with people and roadshows.
