Congress to rally against price rise in Jaipur on Dec 12; next phase on job loss, selling of national assets in January

As top leaders head to Jaipur for a rally against price rise on Sunday, the Congress is now planning another agitation on unemployment and selling of national assets by the Narendra Modi government beginning at the end of January.

A panel headed by senior leader Digvijay Singh will chalk out agitation programmes for the party and finalise the contours of the next campaign even as the party has extended its 'Jan Jagran Abhiyan' against price rise till this month-end.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi had in early September set up a nine-member committee under Singh to plan national level agitations. It includes Priyanka Gandhi, BK Hariprasad, Ripun Bora, Uttam Reddy, Manish Chatrath, Udit Raj, Ragini Nayak and Zubair Khan as its members.

Sources said the panel is chalking out the second phase of agitation programmes against the Modi government from January last week, coinciding with the start of the Budget session.

During this agitation programme, Congress will highlight the job scenario in the country and the loss of employment, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. The protest will also highlight the "selling of national assets" in the name of privatisation and its link to job loss. It will also highlight the problems with the government's National Monetisation Pipeline.

The third phase of the agitation will focus on issues related to women and youth, especially students, sources said.

Soon after it was set up, the panel headed by Singh had chalked out the Jan Jagran Abhiyan against price from November 14 across India. This is followed up by the rally on Sunday in Jaipur, which will be attended by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

Also read: BJP's ideology rooted against women: Priyanka Gandhi

Earlier this month, Congress had said that it had to shift its mega rally against 'Modi-made Mehangai (price rise)' to Jaipur, claiming that the Modi government revoked permission granted to the party to hold the programme in Delhi.

Describing the Modi government as "behaving like a full-fledged authoritarian dictatorship", Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal had said the party had sought permission for holding the protest rally and "the Modi government after much effort" gave its nod for the programme to be held in Delhi's Dwarka.

However, he said in a statement, the Modi government "in a prejudiced conspiracy got the Lt Governor of Delhi to cancel permission" for the rally even as the party was making arrangements for a "massive public show with people and party workers" from all over the country.

"However, the Congress is neither going to get intimidated by their tactics nor is it going to withdraw even an inch from its age-old commitment to raising issues concerning the people. It has been decided that the 'Mehangai Hatao Rally' will be organised in Jaipur on December 12 itself," Venugopal said.

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