Rahul Gandhi to visit Bihar on April 7; Jan Suraaj Party to hold rally in Patna on April 11

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is also likely to interact with social activists at the Samvidhan Suraksha Sammelan, which will be held at Patna’s Sri Krishna Memorial Hall. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

In the poll-bound Bihar, Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi is likely to visit the State for the third time this year on April 7 to take part in a seminar on “Safeguarding the Constitution” in Patna. He may also visit Begusarai, the hometown of party leader Kanhaiya Kumar, who is currently undertaking the ‘Palayan Roko, Naukari Do (‘Stop Migration, Give Jobs’) padayatra (foot march) across the State. Days later, on April 11, the Jan Suraaj Party of Prashant Kishor will organise a rally in Patna’s Gandhi Maidan to “bring change in Bihar”. State Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in Bihar in October-November this year.

“Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will be in Patna on April 7 to take part in a symposium on safeguarding the Constitution, which is under attack from the Narendra Modi government at the Centre”, said State party president Rajesh Kumar and party leader and legislator Shakeel Ahmad Khan. Mr. Gandhi is also likely to interact with social activists at the Samvidhan Suraksha Sammelan, which will be held at Patna’s Sri Krishna Memorial Hall (SKMH). The event will commemorate Mahatma Gandhi’s Salt Satyagraha, said the leaders.

A State party leader, preferring anonymity, also said that Mr. Gandhi may visit Begusarai in the second half of the day to participate in party leader Kanhaiya Kumar’s ‘Palayan Roko, Naukari Do’ (‘Stop Migration, Give Jobs’) padayatra (foot march). Begusarai is the home district of Kanhaiya Kumar, who is currently undertaking this padayatra across the State. On March 30, Mr. Kumar had to leave his padayatra midway in Araria district of northeast Bihar following a brawl between his private security guards and party workers.

However, later, the party district president Zakir Anwar told media that Kanhaiya Kumar had gone to Delhi for an “important meeting” with party’s central leadership. The padayatra, which began on March 16, will culminate on April 14, marking Babasaheb Ambedkar’s birth anniversary.

In poll-bound Bihar, this will be Rahul Gandhi’s third visit this year to the State; earlier visits were on January 18 and February 5 for similar symposiums. The newly-appointed Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) president Rajesh Kumar announced that the Opposition INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) bloc would contest the upcoming Assembly elections in the State “unitedly”.

On the other hand, Prashant Kishor‘s Jan Suraaj Party will hold a rally on April 11 at Patna’s historic Gandhi Maidan to “bring change in Bihar during the upcoming Assembly elections”. “This rally will be a decision-making rally, and after this, Bihar will no longer remain in a bad state”, Mr. Kishor said. “The rally will break all records in terms of turnout,” quipped Mr. Kishor, whose posters appealing people to attend have adorned walls of government buildings in Patna.

“I appeal to the people of Bihar that they vote in such a manner in the upcoming Assembly polls that the JD(U) does not win even a single seat, and only then will Bihar get rid of its Chief Minister who is physically tired and mentally retired,” Mr. Kishor alleged recently while addressing presspersons in Patna.

Also read: Politics for Prashant Kishor is an adhesive

However, during the by-polls on four seats held last year, Mr. Kishor’s party drew a blank but secured a sizeable number of votes in two constituencies: Ramgarh and Belaganj.