Pomp and show awaits Rahul Gandhi in Jaipur ‘Who taught CM to demolish temples’
Congress workers are upbeat over the visit of Congress president Rahul Gandhi to the city on Saturday and are all set to welcome him with pomp and show.
Gandhi, who will arrive at Jaipur airport around 1pm, will be given a grand welcome by workers from in and around the city outside the airport. The Congress chief will begin his 12-km roadshow in a specially designed bus, which will conclude at Ramlila Maidan at around 3.30pm where he will address Congress delegates.
Hundreds of party workers will welcome Gandhi throughout the roadshow at over 25 points with fireworks and cultural events. Sources claimed that around two trucks of flowers are being brought for the event.
Senior Congress leaders, including state party chief Sachin Pilot, former chief minister Ashok Gehlot, AICC general secretary and state incharge Avinash Pande and four co-incharges, and leader of the Opposition Rameshwar Dudi will welcome Gandhi at the airport. The leaders will also accompany Gandhi on the rally vehicle.
“He is coming here to launch the election campaign of the Congress party. Gandhi will lead from the front; he will give the message of victory to the party workers and will tell how we are going to campaign in the next three months,” Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot said.
“Gandhi is coming to Rajasthan for the first time after becoming the Congress president. It is the city where he was elevated as the vice-president of the Congress party, so this place has a lot of significance for the party,” Pilot added. Gandhi will leave the city around 7pm.
JAIPUR: JAIPUR: Rahul Gandhi was taught by the late Jawahar Lal Nehru and his grandmother late PM Indira Gandhi to visit temples, which the entire country knows.
SACHIN PILOT, Congress leader
The Congress on Friday hit out at Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje for her remarks on party president Rahul Gandhi’s temple visits, saying that her own government had been “demolishing” temples.
Rajasthan Congress president Sachin Pilot said that the chief minister is making statements that they (the BJP) have taught Gandhi to visit temples, in which case the BJP should answer who taught her to demolish temples? “It seems that the CM has not recovered from the bypoll defeat and is making baseless statements. Rahul Gandhi was taught by the late Jawahar Lal Nehru and his grandmother late PM Indira Gandhi to visit temples, which the entire country knows,” he said. During her ongoing Rajasthan Gaurav Yatra across the state, Raje had said that Gandhi remembers temple only during election-time. She had herself begun the yatra from a temple in Rajsamand.
In turn, Pilot has reminded the BJP leader of the row in 2015 when temples were dismantled and relocated in the walled city in Jaipur for the construction of a metro rail line. He alleged that over 300 temples have been demolished in the state capital during the BJP rule.
Pilot also alleged that the entire state wants to know, who taught the CM to demolish heritage temples. The state knows that the CM takes shelter in temples during the political crisis, during other times she has no issue ordering their demolition. “BJP leaders who are making statements over Gandhi’s visit to temples should first answer where they hiding when the temples were demolished in the capital,” he said. Gandhi’s temple visits came into focus during assembly election campaigns in Gujarat and Karnataka.
The Congress president will address party workers on Saturday at the Ramlila ground, where he will reach in a specially designed bus from Jaipur airport with supporters following in other vehicles.
Meanwhile, Pilot, on Friday, also raised the eighth question for the CM – “Was the promise of 15 lakh jobs mere a catchphrase?” he asked. “The BJP government, which promised 15 lakh jobs, hardly gave employment to one lakh. The unemployed youth demanding jobs protested but were latthicharged to suppress their voice. During PM’s rally in Jhunjhunu and CM’s in Sikar and Bharatpur, cases were registered on around 300 unemployed youth, which is not withdrawn till date,” he said.
Pilot said the CM is now asking for one more chance to complete the pending works, which shows that the BJP has failed to fulfil their promises.