BHOPAL: More than three months after his party’s national general secretary sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra launched the grand old party’s assembly poll campaign, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi will address his first election rally in the poll-bound Madhya Pradesh on Saturday.
The former Congress national president will join one of the seven ongoing Jan Akrosh Yatras of the party across the state and address the Jan Akrosh Rally in Polaykalan village falling under Kalapipal assembly constituency of west Madhya Pradesh’s Shajapur district.
Earlier, on June 12, Priyanka had addressed Congress’ rally in Jabalpur and just a few weeks later addressed another rally in Gwalior. She is scheduled to address another rally in the tribal-dominated Mohankheda area of west MP’s Dhar district on October 5.
Rahul Gandhi will return on Saturday to the west MP region bordering Rajasthan, nine months after his Kanyakumari-Kashmir Bharat Jodo Yatra entered into the Congress-ruled state in December 2022 through the same part of the BJP-ruled MP.
Importantly, the Kalapipal seat of Shajapur district was won by Congress’ young candidate Kunal Chaudhary in 2018. Two out of the three assembly seats of Shajapur district are currently held by the Congress. Through Saturday’s Jan Akrosh Rally, the Congress aims at boosting its cadres on 20-25 seats of western MP (Malwa region, particularly the Ujjain division) and neighbouring central MP.
With the rally being held under the Ujjain division of west MP, senior Congress leaders, including Rahul, Priyanka and the party’s general secretary in-charge for Madhya Pradesh, Randeep Singh Surjewala, have been attacking the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government in the state over the recent rape of a 12-year-old cognitively challenged girl in Ujjain district.
However, the principal opposition party faced an embarrassment on Friday, owing to its first-time scheduled caste MLA Kalpana Verma accusing Manoj Bagri, the party’s local leader in Satna district of attempting to outrage her modesty.
Priyanka rally on Oct 5 Rahul Gandhi’s MP campaign has been reinforced by Priyanka Gandhi’s rallies in the recent past. She is due to address another poll rally in tribal-dominated area of west MP’s Dhar district on October 5
