Malwa launchpad for Rahul’s campaign, key task for Bajwa
Wednesday, 04/02/2015
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NATIONWIDE AGITATION First rally at Moga or Jagraon next month, success could help beleaguered chief of state unit silence his detractors
NEW DELHI: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is preparing for a countrywide agitation against the BJP-led NDA government’s policies on farm, land and labour reforms, issues his party thinks will help it reconnect with eroding traditional support base.
The campaign would be launched from Punjab’s Malwa region with a kisan-mazdoor rally either at Moga or Jagraon next month, most probably on March 29, sources said. State Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa, who has been stiff opposition from within the state unit, has been entrusted with the task of roping in NGOs, farmers and labour bodies.
“We are also planning an allIndia conclave of farmers and labour organisations and a meeting of their leaders with Rahul-ji before the rally,” Bajwa told HT. “This will be a launchpad for Rahul-ji to connect with farmers and labour workforce.”
Rahul’s public meeting would be a show of strength for Bajwa in the wake of his long-running feud with former Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh who virtually sounded the poll bugle for 2017 assembly elections with a “lalkar” rally at Amritsar last month. The tussle between the two leaders has already reached Rahul’s doors with a section of legislators demanding Bajwa’s immediate removal and appointment of Amarinder in his place to “ensure” victory over the Shiromani Akali Dal and the BJP in the next elections. Success of the rally could silence Bajwa’s detractors and strengthen his position in the Punjab Congress which is struggling to take on the ruling SAD-BJP combine despite the alliance facing the heat over the issue of drug menace.
As part of the campaign, the party is planning to take on the NDA government on the farmers’ issues of land acquisition, dismantling of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and gradual withdrawal of the public distribution system (PDS) and the minimum support price (MSP) regime; and the implementation of the MS Swaminathan report on farm policy. It would also demand foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail.
