Congress's Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will visit Karnataka tomorrow to announce the party's second big promise for the assembly elections due in May. The women-centric promise will be announced at a mega convention for women, which comes ahead of her "Haat se haat jodo" rallies that are meant to firm up the message of Rahul Gandhi's "Bharat Jodo Yatra".
The convention will be held at the Palace grounds in Bengaluru. It will be attended by senior party leaders including former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, state unit chief DK Shivakumar and the party's national president Mallikarjun Kharge. Around 15,000 women Congress workers will also be present.
Sources said the Congress will release a separate manifesto to target women in the state -- one of the few where it has a sizeable presence on the ground.
The Congress -- determined to win back the state -- has stepped up its campaign as the ruling BJP is pushing ahead with the customary moves of its election machinery. The party has been bringing in all its heavyweights, senior-most leaders and state chief ministers .
Besides party chief JP Nadda and key strategist Amit Shah, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also visited the state.
Last week, PM Modi opened a youth programme in north Karnataka's Hubballi. He will visit the state again on January 19. The destination this time is Kalaburagi, where he launched a new train in October last year.
This time, he will participate in a public meeting meant for distributing land rights to Tanda dwellers from Bidar, Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Raichur and Vijayapura districts, apart from flagging off works to be taken up under the Jal Jeevan Mission.
Earlier this week, the Congress had announced free electricity upto 200 units, taking a leaf out Aam Aadmi Party's governance book.
The Congress lost power in Karnataka in 2019 as its government led by ally HD Kumaraswamy crashed following exodus by a chunk of MLAs of the ruling alliance. The party, which has a strong ground presence in the state, is expected to make a big effort to unseat the BJP under the leadership of its state chief DK Shivakumar.
The party has started a big mass contact programme as part of a bus rally – the 'Praja Dhwani Yatre' – which is being led jointly by Mr Shivakumar and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
The tour started last week from "Veer Soudha," a memorial where Mahatma Gandhi had presided over the Congress session in 1924.
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