AICC chief, LOP review poll preparedness
* Solanki, Karra meet party delegations
Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Sept 3: Former AICC president and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi will address two public rallies in Banihal and Dooru Assembly constituencies of district Ramban and Anantnag on Wednesday while AICC chief Malikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi reviewed poll preparedness during a meeting in Delhi today.
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Party sources said that Rahul Gandhi will arrive Jammu at round 10 am from Delhi in a special plane tomorrow morning and from Jammu airport, he will move along with AICC general secretary Bharatsinh Solanki and JKPCC chief Tariq Hameed Karra to Sangaldan in Banihal constituency in a helicopter for addressing rally at 11 am in favour of Congress candidate, Vikar Rasool Wani.
After addressing rally he along with Solanki and Karra, will move to Dooru (Anantnag) for addressing another rally at 12.30 pm in the constituency of G A Mir.
These rallies are part of the campaign for the party’s candidates contesting in the first phase of the elections on September 18.
Besides Rahul Gandhi, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are among the 40 star campaigners of the party in the upcoming three-phased Assembly elections. .
JKPC chief Karra said Rahul Gandhi will kick-start the party’s campaign from tomorrow. He will address two public rallies in Ramban and Anantnag districts in support of Congress candidates Vikar Rasool Wani and Ghulam Ahmed Mir.
He said Congress and the National Conference have entered into a pre-poll alliance for the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, being held for the first time since the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution in August 2019.
“Gandhi will arrive in Jammu from Delhi on Wednesday morning and then fly to Sangaldan area of Gool in Ramban district to address a rally. He will campaign for former JKPCC president Vikar Rasool Wani, who is contesting from the Banihal Assembly constituency. Polling for the seat will be held in the first phase on September 18,” he added.
“Rahul will then fly to the Dooru area of Anantnag district, where he will address another rally in support of AICC general secretary and former Minister Ghulam Ahmed Mir, who is contesting from Dooru Assembly segment of district Anantnag. The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha will return to Delhi in the evening from Srinagar,” he added.
The JKPCC chief exuded confidence that Gandhi’s campaign will give a new impetus to the party’s public outreach during the elections and improve its poll prospects.
All the three former JKPCC presidents- Ghulam Ahmed Mir, Vikar Rasool Wani and Peerzada Mohammed Syeed are contesting in the first phase of the elections.
According to the seat-sharing pact reached by the National Conference (NC) and Congress, the former will contest 51 seats and the latter only 32. The two parties will have friendly-contests on five seats and they left one seat each for the CPI(M) and the Panthers Party.
Earlier, during the day, AICC general secretary and In-charge J&K, Bharatsinh Solanki and JKPCC chief Tariq Hameed Karra arrived here from Delhi to assess arrangements for the visit of LOP Rahul Gandhi and met some party leaders and other functionaries. Several delegations met them here and expressed their resentment for not providing party mandate to their leaders. Some met the senior party leaders for exerting pressure to consider their favorite candidates for the third phase of the elections.
During this afternoon, DDC member from Poonch, Riyaz Ahmed Naz, son of former Legislator Bashir Naz, joined Congress Party along with his some supporters in presence of Solanki, Karra and JKPCC working president Raman Bhalla.
In case of bad weather, the Congress leadership has asked the Northern Railway authorities to have trial run of the track from Banihal up to Sangaldan for the travel of Gandhi and make the rally grand success. The Railway authorities have made preparations for the same, a party spokesman said.
Meanwhile, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi held a meeting with AICC secretaries and joint secretaries here today during which ways to strengthen the organisation and poll preparedness in J&K and Haryana were discussed.
Kharge and Gandhi met the leaders at the AICC headquarters and sought their feedback on strengthening the organisation and expanding the party’s support base, party sources said.
In a post on X, Kharge said the Congress will reach out to every Indian. “We chaired a meeting of the newly appointed AICC secretaries and Joint secretaries. We are determined to strengthen our organisation, involve each voice and keep speaking truth to power,” the Congress president said.
Kharge has appointed All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretaries and joint secretaries for various States and Union Territories. These office bearers are associated with the party’s general secretaries and in-charges in the respective States.
Pranav Jha and Gaurav Pandhi, who are coordinators in the office of the Congress president, were made AICC secretaries.
While Vineet Punia, who is an AICC secretary in the party’s Communication department, was given the same responsibility, Ruchira Chaturvedi was appointed secretary in the department along with him.
Two former MLAs of Rajasthan, Danish Abrar and Divya Maderna were also appointed secretaries for Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. respectively.
Former president of All India Mahila Congress Netta D’Souza, former NSUI president Neeraj Kundan and Naveen Sharma would work as AICC secretaries along with Venugopal.
Party sources said those working in the organisation and who have been loyal to the party had been rewarded. The meeting comes ahead of Assembly polls in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir.
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