LUCKNOW: In a bid to corner Yogi Adityanath-led government in Uttar Pradesh over issues including unemployment, price rise and crime against women, the state unit of the Congress party is contemplating a statewide outreach programme encompassing street plays, night camps in villages and “Pabhat Pheris”.
The party unit under UP CC chief Ajay Rai plans to roll out the campaign from Independence Day. A decision regarding the initiative was taken after a meeting among senior office-bearers recently, which was convened by Congress state president Ajay Rai for feedback and suggestions about how to maintain the momentum of the anti-BJP sentiment gained during the recent Lok Sabha elections.
Party insiders claimed that while the party’s main wing would organise night camps and “Prabhat Pheri” events, the cultural wing would organise “nukkad meetings”.
As per UPCC chief Ajay Rai, main wing of the UPCC would take out "prabhat pheris" while reciting "Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram" and raise awareness about pressing issues from which the government had been trying to divert attention. He added that issues like unemployment, crime against women, price rise were hitting people’s lives at grassroot level.
“We will expose the state government on these issues,” said the UPCC chief. Meanwhile, to counter the BJP over the Ayodhya rape case involving a SP leader as main accused, the Congress is planning to target the ruling party on a recent incident in Hardoi alleging that a BJP leader was found involved in the crime in which the eyes of the victim were allegedly damaged.
The Congress is also looking to corner the ruling party for being “biased” in taking action in certain cases, sources said. “Everyone is in favour of strict action against those found involved in crime against women but the type of punishment should not be biased. Consider the case in Hardoi, where involvement of a BJP leader had come to the fore but bulldozer is only being sent to Ayodhya,” claimed Rai.