Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge (L) with party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (R).
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: Top Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi will address around a dozen election rallies in Bihar from Wednesday, some jointly with I.N.D.I.A. bloc’s Chief Ministerial candidate Tejashwi Yadav, while Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is likely to launch her campaign this weekend from seats where Congress is locked in a “friendly fight” with allies CPI and IIP.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge is likely to address three rallies between October 31 and November 5, one of which would be in Kutumba, a reserved seat, from where Bihar party chief Rajesh Ram is facing the election for another term. Kharge will address rallies in Kuchaikot and Amarpur also.
Priyanka, sources said, is likely to address eight rallies and her first rally will be in Bachhwara on November 1 where Congress has fielded Bihar Youth Congress Shiv Prakash Garib Das against BJP’s sitting MLA Surendra Mehta and CPI’s Abdesh Kumar Rai. Rai lost by just 737 votes in 2020 and it is mainly attributed to Das, who contested as an independent and garnered 39,878 votes.
This time, Congress was unwilling to cede the seat to CPI and Priyanka’s likely campaign in the seat shows that the party is willing to take the extra step to win the seat. Priyanka had contested against CPI candidate in the Lok Sabha bypolls in Wayanad, which was vacated by Rahul. CPI had questioned the Lok Sabha candidature of both Rahul and Priyanka in Wayanad.
While Rahul and Kharge is learnt to have avoided campaigning in seats where there is a friendly fight, Priyanka will also campaign in Beldaur where new I.N.D.I.A. ally India Inclusive Party (IIP) has fielded a candidate Tanisha Bharti against Congress’ Mithilesh Kumar Nishad. Her other proposed rallies are in Lakhi Sarai and Rosera on November 3, Govindganj and Chanpatia on November 6 and Kadwa and Kasba on November 8.
Rahul will start his campaign with Tejashwi from Sakra Assembly seat in Muzaffarpur followed by another rally in Darbhanga on Wednesday and is set to address nine more rallies till November 7. This will be the first time that Rahul and Tejashwi will be sharing stage after September 24 in Patna when the alliance’s manifesto for Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) were released.
On October 30, sources said the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha is likely to address rallies in Barbigha and Nalanda followed by another public meeting in Khagaria on November 2. He will also have campaign programmes in Purnia and Bahadurganj on November 4 and a day later in Aurangabad and Wazirganj.
His last election programme is likely to be on November 7 when he is likely to address rallies in Forbesganj and Barari.