Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi will launch a state-wide anti-Mayawati rath yatra from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo's old constituency Ambedkar Nagar on April 14 in a bid to woo the Dalit vote bank, reports Mail Today.
Interestingly, April 14 happens to be Bhimrao Ambedkar's 119th birth anniversary.
Mayawati was elected to the 12th Lok Sabha in 1998 from the Akbarpur constituency, which she later renamed Ambedkar Nagar.
Since then, the BSP has won every election from the constituency. Now, Rahul plans to end the BSP's monopoly on the seat and has selected Mayawati's political playground to flag off his chetna (awareness) rath yatra. This rally would be one of 10 rath yatras, which will be flagged off by various Congress leaders all over the state.
Prominent Congress leaders, including general secretary incharge of the party in UP Digvijay Singh, Raj Babbar, Mohammad Azharuddin and state unit president Rita Bahuguna Joshi, will take part in the rallies. Joshi said the rallies have been organised in two phases — from April 14 to May 31 and from September 25 to November 10.
Each of the 10 raths will cover 40 assembly segments in 90 days and culminate in Allahabad on November 10,where AICC president Sonia Gandhi will address a rally.
“ We plan to oust Mayawati from her seat of power in the next assembly elections. We plan to make the Dalits and all other communities in the state aware of her misrule and save the state from a tyrant,” Joshi said. “ Corruption and anarchy have halted the development of UP. No wonder Mayawati is uncomfortable with our rath yatra ,” she added.
The cooperative minister of UP and state president of the BSP, Swami Prasad Maurya, said: “ The people of the country know the Congress's conspiracy to keep them ignorant and poor. So, such rath yatras don't bother us.” Maurya said the BSP planned to launch a counter agitation. “ We will also organise a movement across the state to expose the Congress and tell the people how the Centre is using the CBI and the income tax department to victimise her ( Mayawati),” he said.
