DEHRADUN: In a bid to capture at least three of the five parliamentary seats from the ruling BJP in Uttarakhand ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress is planning to reach out to the masses on key issues related to the state through a padyatra, which will continue for two months in all constituencies across the state.
An important meeting was organised at Congress Bhavan on Monday regarding the preparations for the padyatra. Speaking to this daily, state president Karan Mahra said, “The way the Agneepath scheme was imposed on the youth, the unemployed lot are feeling cheated. On the other hand, in the Ankita Bhandari case, there is a constant cover-up from the government and the police administration. Who is the VIP? People have been asking but there has been no answer.”
This padyatra will pass through almost all the assemblies and is expected to become a medium of communication with the public. State in-charge Devendra Yadav said, “Uttarakhand neither got the benefit of ‘double engine government nor did the state develop. Rahul Gandhi is well aware of the situation in Uttarakhand, so he is serious about the state, that is why he has promised to give a long time for padyatra in Uttarakhand”.
He himself wants to connect with the people of Uttarakhand and share their pain and sorrow.
Significantly, both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party have almost equal support base in Uttarakhand.
Yatra in Maharashtra
With the 2024 Lok Sabha polls approaching, Maharashtra Congress has decided to begin early preparations to avoid its poor performance in 2014 and 2019 across all 48 constituencies. The state Congress has decided to cover the length and breadth of Maharashtra through a padyatra after which tere will be a bus yatra.