Saharanpur (UP):
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will hold a rally in Saharanpur in Western Uttar Pradesh today. The rally comes after Mr Gandhi's foray into BJP leader Varun Gandhi's territory of Pilibhit and neighbouring areas over the last two days.
For the past few weeks, the Congress General Secretary has been campaigning across Uttar Pradesh in the run-up to the Assembly polls to be held in February next year. Mr Gandhi has been reaching out to the Uttar Pradesh voters, especially to Muslims and those belonging to the Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
Mr Gandhi will hold a rally in Saharanpur, which has a large Muslim population. In fact, the rally has been timed to be held just after the Friday prayers.
The ruling Congress party introduced the 4.5 percent minority sub-quota for Muslims in the broader quota meant for OBCs, hours before the model code of conduct set in to reach out to this 18.5% electorate in the state. However, the Congress faces a tough juggling act between appeasing the Muslims and the OBCs with the latter unhappy about losing government jobs and college seats etc to the Muslim community.