BENGALURU: By the end of this year, the Congress in Karnataka hopes to cover 100 constituencies as part of its padayatra campaign. KPCC President DK Shivakumar on Thursday announced the party’s long-term campaign to reach out to all constituencies- especially those in which the party lost the previous elections- in via padayatras and public rallies led by various leaders of the party.
“I will visit a temple and then a dargah on March 1 as a curtain-raiser to the programme and on March 3 we will kickstart our padayatra and rally. The first event will be held at Devanahalli and then another at Chikkaballapur. All our leaders will take out padayatras, I will join them too. The next course of events will be scheduled in a day or two,” said Shivakumar.
Working President Ramalinga Reddy told TNIE that the campaign was two-pronged. “One is a long-term campaign that involves padayatras and public rallies spread over the year to strengthen the party’s base and gather more support. Another is multiple short-term campaigns for organisational strengthening and topic-specific agitations, movements etc,” he said.Five working presidents of the state Congress unit were also given charge of districts and associate units on Thursday for better coordination.
Reddy will be in charge of Bengaluru Urban and Rural, Ramanagara, Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts, and the state women’s Congress wing and party properties committee. “The campaign will consist of a series of padayatras and public addresses. The aim will be to reach out to people’s doorsteps with the government’s failures. More activities will be planned as we move ahead,” said Saleem Ahmed, Working President, KPCC who has been given charge of Gadag, Haveri, Davanagere, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga and Tumakuru districts, along with responsibility of Seva Dal and party organisation and administration.
Working President Eshwar Khandre will be in charge of Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Raichur, Bidar, Koppal and Ballari districts, and the Kisan Congress.Working President Satish Jarkiholi is in charge of Chikkodi, Belagavi, Bagalkot, Vijayapura, Dharwad-Hubballi and Uttara Kannada districts along with party’s training. Working President Dhruva Narayana will be in charge of Shivamogga, Udupi, Chikkamagalur, Hassan, Mandya, Mysuru, Kodagu and Chamarajanagar districts along with NSUI.