After a 12-day visit to Kailash Mansarovar, Rahul Gandhi has started his poll campaign for the upcoming elections in Bhopal in an absolutely new avatar of ‘Shiv-Bhakt’(devotee of Shiva); that’s what the posters and the cutouts for the roadshow have mentioned Rahul Gandhi as. The 18-km roadshow was held on 17th September, which began from Lalghati Square after Rahul Gandhi sought blessings from Hindu priests and ended at BHEL Dussehra ground where the party chief addressed thousands of supporters and party workers. He was accompanied by other Congress leaders such as Kamal Nath, Jyotiraditya Scindia and others in this ‘Sankalp Yatra’.
Addressing the gathering, the Congress’ national president said,” I am the Congress Party President. My first responsibility is to serve the people of Madhya Pradesh. My second responsibility is towards the Congress party workers, not the leaders”. He launched a mordant attack on the present government in the state. Targeting the current CM of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Rahul Gandhi compared him to former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, drawing an analogy of run-making machine and announcement making the machine. He said, ” Whenever Sachin Tendulkar came on the field, he was known for making 50-60 runs and was called run-making machine. And Shiv Raj Singh Chauhan, whenever he is on the field he is known to make just announcements. He made 21000 announcements in Madhya Pradesh still the state has emerged number one in corruption, an offense against women, rape and malnutrition”.
He also promised the people of Madhya Pradesh that if his party comes to power in the next election, he will not only waive off the loans of farmers in the state but across the country as well which was a clear hint to people that he has started eyeing 2019 Lok Sabha polls as well. He also mentioned that if the Congress forms the government in 2019, they will replace the current Goods and Services Tax which has supposedly brought quite a pain for some businesses. Bringing up the issue of unemployment and poor education he blamed the BJP government for ruining it. He said that as opposed to China where 50,000 youth gets employment in 24hrs, in India the number is staggering low to 450. To fight the crime against women, he said that Congress government will induce new police stations and the Congress party will have more women representatives. He assured people that they will give voice to every community and that Congress is for all.
Rahul Gandhi also talked about demonetization, fuel prices, Vijay Mallya and his likes. Terming demonetization as the biggest scam of the world he said, ”Demonetisation is the Modi government’s biggest scam to convert black money to white.” Reminding people of the promise made by then PM candidate Narendra Modi to reduce fuel prices if they form the government, he said that in the congress’s regime the price of crude oil was $140 per barrel and now its $70 per barrel, yet the fuel prices are continuously on the rise. He alleged that PM Modi wants to benefit his friends only. He also promised people of Madhya Pradesh that if elected they will probe Vyapam and e-tendering scams and no one will run away like Vijay Mallya. After the Congress’ big roadshow, BJP is planning an event in Bhopal where PM Modi and Amit Shah are expected to be the attendees on 25th of September, said a BJP spokesperson. The assembly polls are going to be held later this year.