The Congress is all set to fire the first major salvo against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati when Rahul Gandhi flags off 10 simultaneous yatras on April 14, which would cover the entire state and carry the message of the Congress and the United Progressive Alliance's achievements and mark the 20 years which the state of Uttar Pradesh has "existed" without Congress rule.
Sounding a war cry against Mayawati, Rahul Gandhi would reach Ambedkarnagar near Faizabad on April 14, the birth anniversary of Bhim Rao Ambedkar and flag off the 10 yatras, each of which will cover 40 assembly constituencies, these yatras would all culminate on November 10 at Allahabad where the Congress president Sonia Gandhi is expected to be present at Anand Bhawan to receive these yatras.
The yatras would have a manifold objective say top Congress leaders. They would be a celebration of 125 years of the Congress party with the raths carrying the history of the Congress and reaching the points where key freedom struggles took place.They would also travel to the remote areas and honour all the living freedom fighters, as a means of mass contact programmes, with the people of those areas.
The yatras would broadcast the achievements of the UPA government, the failures of the non-Congress governments and 20 years of Uttar Pradesh without a Congress government.
While the first phase of the yatras is from April 14 to May 31, the second phase is scheduled for September 15 to November 10, when they will all conclude at Allahabad.
Each yatra would touch all the block headquarters in the 40 assembly segments under their charge and each yatra would have a chief co-ordinator who in turn would appoint co-ordinators for each assembly constituency in their charge. Senior leaders, central ministers and even chief ministers are invited to visit the constituencies and address public meetings depending on the area.
The 10 co-ordinators who have been appointed are Jagdambika Pal, PL Puniya, Zafar Ali Naqvi, Shekhar Bahuguna, Rajeshpati Tripati, Rajendra Sharma, Pradeep Mathur, Ranjit Singh Judeo, Bhola Pandey and Praveen Aaron.
AICC general secretary in charge of UP, Digvijay Singh and secretary Avinash Pandey would be co-ordinating with the co-ordinators and guiding them from Delhi and during the course of these mass contact programmes, probably the biggest organized by the Congress in Uttar Pradesh in a long time, Rahul Gandhi would be visiting the yatras on
and off without any scheduled programme.
Congress leaders say that the aim is the 2012 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and with Congress deciding to build on its good will which was evident during last year's general election, it would serve the purpose of energizing the workers of the party.
A senior leader said that the yatras would also serve the purpose of showcasing the latent talent in the Congress in the state and many of those who shine in their efforts during the yatras and beyond that the agitation programmes being chalked out, would be considered for tickets for the upcoming assembly elections.
