PATNA: Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is set to kickstart the ‘Har Ghar Adhikar Yatra’ in election-bound Bihar on September 26 as part of the Opposition Grand Alliance outreach programme. The Wayanad MP is expected to start her 10-day-long Yatra from Khagaria.
It would be Priyanka’s second visit to the election-bound state within a month. Earlier, she participated in the Voter Adhikar Yatra launched by her brother and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, which concluded in Patna on September 1.
The route of the Wayanad MP’s Yatra is being finalised after consultation with state leaders. “Har Ghar Adhikar Yatra will traverse through constituencies that remained untouched during Rahul’s Voter Adhikar Yatra,” a senior Congress leader revealed.
Sources in Congress said that while Rahul and RJD’s Tejashwi Prasad Yadav raised the issue of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and ‘vote chori’ (vote theft), Priyanka’s Har Ghar Adhikar Yatra will focus on women voters, considered the core vote bank of the ruling NDA.
Priyanka will try to establish direct contact with women voters through the ‘Mahila Samvad’ (women’s dialogue) programme. “She is expected to raise issues of Anganwari Sevikas, Jeevika Sevikas and others during her door-to-door campaign and ‘Mahila Samvad’,” sources said.
The poll promises made by Opposition parties for financial assistance to women, like Mai Bahin Maan Yojna, a key poll guarantee of both Congress and RJD, is expected to figure prominently during Priyanka’s outreach.
A senior leader said that Priyanka’s Yatra has been organised to keep the momentum generated during the 17-day long Rahul’s Voter Adhikar Yatra and five-day long Tejashwi’s Bihar Adhikar Yatra alive. Moreover, it will dissuade political opponents’ perception about a rift within the Grand Alliance over the seat-sharing deal.
The leader, on the condition of anonymity, said that it was yet to be seen whether Priyanka, like Rahul, will prefer to keep INDIA bloc leaders with her during the Yatra. Rahul’s Yatra, which started from Sasaram in Rohtas, covered 3,000 km and traversed through 25 districts before it culminated in Patna on September 1.
Senior leaders, including Ashok Gehlot, Sachin Pilot, Bhupinder Hoda, and chief ministers—Revanth Reddy and Siddaramaiah—are expected to join Priyanka’s Yatra on different dates, said sources.
Khagaria, from where Priyanka is likely to begin her Yatra, is the native district of former Union Minister late Ram Vikas Paswan and his son and Union Minister Chirag Paswan. Chirag, whose Lok Janshakti Party (RV) is part of the ruling NDA, has been insisting on contesting the Alauli seat in Khagaria district.
Chirag’s uncle and Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party chief Pashupati Kumar Paras is yet to formally join the Grand Alliance. The family feud in the Paswan family is an open secret.