Rahul Gandhi at a rally in Satara
Lucknow:
Rahul Gandhi will today kickstart the Congress's campaign in Uttar Pradesh for national polls due by May, with rallies in a part of the state close to Muzaffarnagar, where 50 people were killed and 40,000 displaced in communal riots last month.
As Muzaffarnagar and its surrounding areas cope with the aftermath of the riots, the Congress is focusing on the Muslim-dominated seats of western Uttar Pradesh.
Rahul Gandhi will hold his first rally in Aligarh where he is also expected to hard-sell the central government's Land Acquisition Act enacted last month, as the fulfillment of his promise after massive farmers' protests broke out in Aligarh in 2011 against the Yamuna Expressway project.
The Congress vice president personally campaigned for the agitating farmers and made it an election issue against the then Bahujan Samaj Party government led by Mayawati.
Mr Gandhi's second rally will be held in Rampur, the home turf of senior Samajwadi party leader Azam Khan, the party's top Muslim face. In this region, 200 km from Muzaffarnagar, the communal clashes could resonate in the Congress leader's pitch for the Lok Sabha polls.
The Congress has just one Lok sabha seat in western Uttar Pradesh, out of the more than a dozen seats in the region.
As Muzaffarnagar and its surrounding areas cope with the aftermath of the riots, the Congress is focusing on the Muslim-dominated seats of western Uttar Pradesh.
Rahul Gandhi will hold his first rally in Aligarh where he is also expected to hard-sell the central government's Land Acquisition Act enacted last month, as the fulfillment of his promise after massive farmers' protests broke out in Aligarh in 2011 against the Yamuna Expressway project.
The Congress vice president personally campaigned for the agitating farmers and made it an election issue against the then Bahujan Samaj Party government led by Mayawati.
Mr Gandhi's second rally will be held in Rampur, the home turf of senior Samajwadi party leader Azam Khan, the party's top Muslim face. In this region, 200 km from Muzaffarnagar, the communal clashes could resonate in the Congress leader's pitch for the Lok Sabha polls.
The Congress has just one Lok sabha seat in western Uttar Pradesh, out of the more than a dozen seats in the region.
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