Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi is set to kick off his Gujarat campaign, riding a bullock cart. Though embarking on a three-day Gujarat campaign, Rahul Gandhi will offer prayers at Dwarkadhish Temple. Local authorities refused to consent to hold the roadshow in an open jeep in this historic town. Rahul opts to ride a traditional bullock cart in a village as interrelating with farmers OBC-dominated Dwarka region. Gandhi will have short halts for contacts and meetings with farmers.
In Dwarka, he will be given a customary welcome by women dressed in local traditional clothing. With the police rejecting him permission to cover the 135 km stretch from Dwarka to Jamnagar on an open jeep and stage road shows citing security reasons. Rahul Gandhi would now be taking a particularly done up luxury bus for him equipped with CCTV cameras. The open-jeep link with the people might not likely for now.
Though, this does not seem to have dampened the feelings of the Congress workers. In Hanjrapar village 25 km from Dwarka, Gandhi will come in a customarily decked up bullock cart.
Palbhai Ambaliya “Not only his welcome, but we have also made all sitting arrangements for everyone here, counting that of Rahulji, in classic Saurashtra cultural style”.
Following the temple in Dwarka, he will depart for Jamnagar where a roadshow is intended in the evening. On the way, he is probably to stop at Bhatiya plus Khambhaliya.
The next morning, he will depart for Rajkot with expected halts at Tankara and Wankaner. He will also meet traders and will discuss problems caused by the recently launched good and services tax, i.e. GST and demonetisation of high-value cash preceding November.
Rahul Gandhi is probably to visit Morbi, the region’s worst-affected town throughout the 2015 Patidar stir.
On the ending day, he will visit Surendranagar and proffer prayers at two temples. He will foremost visit a hilltop temple at Chotila and after that move to Khodaldham temple at Kagvad.
The area is the centre of the Patidar or Patel movement for reservation in education along with government jobs, which the society has been demanding since July 2015. For their branch, the OBCs are not willing to carve up their quota of benefits.
Rahul Gandhi’s itinerary comprises Dwarka, Morbi, Jamnagar, Rajkot and Surendranagar. These are the areas that observe large-scale Patidar strikes. His trip will ends on Wednesday.
