Rahul to kickstart Congress LS campaign

Coinciding with the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the Congress on Tuesday would literally sound the poll bugle for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

At Sevagram Ashram complex, which is about 8 km away from the Wardha town, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, his mother Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh among others would be present to pay tributes to the Father of the Nation.

Rahul, along with top Congress leaders, will visit Bapu Kuti and take part in a prayer meeting.

After that, at the nearby Mahadev Bhavan, the meeting of Congress Working Committee (CWC) will be held.

After the meeting, Rahul will garland a statue of Bapu near Collector's office and undertake a padyatra.

The day's programme will conclude with a grand rally at the Circus Ground.

"Sewagram is very significant and important for us," Harshawardhan Sapkal, Congress MLA and AICC Secretary, told DH at the Sewagram Ashram.

"You have to understand the significance... The CWC met here in 1942 to decide on the Quit India Movement. Now after 70 years of Independence and at the 150th anniversary of Gandhiji, we are holding the CWC in Sevagram," he said.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala, who was in Nagpur, during a press conference, set the tone of what is to be expected on Tuesday.

"Under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, the CWC met in Sevagram on July 14, 1942 against the atrocities of the British government and imperialism and decided upon the Quit India Movement. Today, again we need a campaign against the BJP for it is being anti-people government," he said.

Surjewala said that under the British rule, the plurality was under attack because of its divide and rule policy and added that the BJP regime was engaging in communal, caste and regional polarisation.

Referring to the salt tax of the Raj-era, he said that the current policies and decisions like "notebandi" (demonetisation) and "Gabbar Singh tax", people of the country are suffering.

"Like the Britishers, the BJP is working for a handful of rich people," he said.

Under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, we would resolve to free the country of the BJP, he said.