Priyanka Gandhi to add teeth to Rahul’s Voters’ Adhikar Yatra

Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah to join march on August 29.

Patna: Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi will join Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s on-going ‘Voters’ Adhikar Yatra’ (voters’ right march) in Bihar on August 26 and 27 to add teeth to the Opposition crusade against the so-called ‘vote theft’ by the Election Commission.

The Lok Sabha member from Wayanad will join Rahul the day he starts his yatra at Supaul and Madhubani in North Bihar on August 26.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah are also likely to participate in the yatra on August 27 and August 29 respectively. Former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav too is expected to join Rahul on August 30.

Meanwhile, Rahul, addressing a press meet in Araria on Sunday, said he saw a new trend during his yatra which was not seen during the earlier ones. “Bihar is one State where even children are politically conscious. I have noticed a new trend here. Children, who are not adults, are now coming to me and raising slogans: ‘Vote chor, gaddi chhodd’ (Those involved in the vote theft should resign),” said Rahul.

New lease of life

Buoyed by the success of his yatra, which is drawing huge response in a State where Congress was lying moribund for decades, Rahul Gandhi has been able to infuse a new lease of life into an organisation which was gasping for breath.

This may help the grand old party drive a hard bargain with the RJD which was not keen on leaving more than 50 seats, out of 243 constituencies, for the Congress party. An indication to this possibility was given by the RJD leader and Opposition undeclared CM candidate Tejashwi Yadav who was miffed with the Congress for its poor performance during the 2020 Assembly polls where the Congress contested 70 seats but won merely 19.

But Rahul’s yatra has changed all the permutations and combinations. A joint march by the INDIA bloc leaders in Rahul’s yatra has not only boosted the morale of the Opposition leaders, it has given the Congress the bargaining power to seek a few more winnable seats so that it could help shore up Congress’ numbers in the Assembly.

“The issue of ‘vote-theft’ is fine but won’t hold much water once the SIR (Special Intensive Revision) exercise for addition and deletion of names is over in September. Rahul should also focus on three other primary issues: Migration, poor education system and massive corruption in the State,” averred veteran journalist and Editor of a national magazine, Giridhar Jha.