BENGALURU: The big-ticket Siddaramaiah’s 75th birthday bash in Davanagere on Wednesday will turn out to be a massive Congress rally with the presence of senior party leader Rahul Gandhi at the event.
This will be a major precursor to the 2023 Assembly elections, and party leaders of all shades, the MLAs and prospective candidates from all the 224 Assembly constituencies are mobilising workers and supporters to take part in the rally.
“They are not taking any chances as both Siddaramaiah and Rahul will be there at the event,” a party source said. The dais too has been built to accommodate hundreds of VIPs as all leaders of relevance will be given prominence according to their seniority. This is just the start of poll preparations as the party rank and file have already started organising masses for another flagship event, ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, to mark the 75th anniversary of India’s Independence where a 75 km walkathon will be taken out.
Rahul, DKS may have one-on-one
Rahul and KPCC president DK Shivakumar are likely to have a one-on-one meeting when they are flying in a chartered flight from New Delhi to Hubballi on Tuesday evening. Shivakumar will be in Delhi on Tuesday as he has to appear before a special court, which is scheduled to pronounce an order with regard to his regular bail plea as he is out on interim bail in a money laundering case filed by the ED.
“Shivakumar is confident of getting the pronouncement in his favour as there have been precedents of accused in such money laundering cases getting bail. His counsel will argue that since he is not in power, there is no chance of him tampering with the evidence,” they added.
As Rahul is arriving in Hubballi to take part in the party’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC) meeting slated for 8 pm, both will be flying in the same chartered plane, which is taking off from Delhi around 5.30 pm, sources said.
It will be interesting to see what the two will discuss as they will be on the flight for over one hour. At the PAC meeting, party senior leaders will discuss how the state has turned communally sensitive after three back-to-back murders in coastal areas and the strategies that need to be adopted for the polls.