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Sonia may start campaign for Rajasthan polls

JAIPUR: The Congress party in Rajasthan is sparing no efforts to make the proposed visit of party president Sonia Gandhi to Baneshwar in south Rajasthan’s tribal-dominated Dungarpur district on April 3. Ms. Gandhi’s visit to the State, taking place after a considerable gap, is expected to officially signal the start of the party’s campaign here for the Assembly polls scheduled later in the year.

Senior party leaders including Pradesh Congress Committee president C.P. Joshi, working president Parasram Mordia, Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Hemaram Choudhary and AICC general secretary in charge for Rajasthan Mukul Wasnik have been camping in the area for the past four days to mobilise tribals from the districts of Udaipur, Dungarpur, Banswara, Chittorgarh, Rajasamand and the newly-formed Pratapgarh.

Former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot was expected to reach on Wednesday to oversee the preparations at Banseshwar, a confluence of rivers and much-revered place of pilgrimage for tribals of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat.

“The party president’s visit is crucial as this is her first trip to any tribal area after the passage of the Tribal Rights Bill by the United Progressive Alliance Government,” pointed out Dr. Joshi. “The effort is to instil a new confidence in the minds of the tribals in the wake of the enactment of the law to protect them and also to highlight the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme for which Dungarpur and the neighbouring tribal districts were chosen in the first phase itself,” he pointed out.

Talking to journalists in Udaipur earlier, Congress spokesperson Mohan Prakash said the Congress president’s visit would highlight the UPA Government’s new initiatives, which became operational from April 1, on rural employment guarantee, tribal rights and old age pension.

The political watchers here are keenly waiting for the outcome of the Baneshwar rally as the Congress had suffered heavy losses in this area in the previous Assembly elections and had failed to improve upon it during the Lok Sabha polls which followed. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, on the first day of its two-day executive meeting here on Monday reportedly held a separate discussion among the leaders from the area on Ms.Gandhi’s visit.

Ms.Gandhi’s last visit to Rajasthan was in August 2006 when she reached Kawas and Malwa towns in Barmer district to provide relief to the victims of freak floods there.

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