Enthusiastic response but Sheila takes ill
Congress workers greeted their party leaders enthusiastically on the first day of the party’s bus yatra that kickstarted the campaign for the 2017 UP assembly election.
The only glitch was that the party’s chief ministerial candidate Sheila Dikshit became unwell due to the humid weather and returned to Delhi soon after attending the first meeting at Hapur.
Otherwise, the party leaders were elated at the response after the recent change of guard in the state unit. Congress general secretary in-charge of UP Ghulam Nabi Azad called upon those who deserted the party in the past to rejoin it to form a secular government in the state.
Azad said that the key to governance in Delhi lay with Uttar Pradesh. Therefore, it was necessary to ‘bring change in UP for a change at the centre’, he asserted. During his brief address, he targeted the Modi government at the Centre as well as the BSP and SP, accusing them of having divided people in the name of caste and religion for their political advantage. “We believe in uniting people and development would be our agenda,” he said reiterating that BJP, BSP and SP had ruined the state in the last 27 years.
Earlier, party chief Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi launched the party`s poll campaign in Uttar Pradesh and flagged off a three-day bus yatra ‘27 Saal UP Behaal’ from Delhi on Saturday. Azad led the campaign along with Shiela Dikshit and state unit chief Raj Babbar. They travelled in the bus with other Congress leaders and were tailed by a convoy of vehicles. They were greeted by people on either side of the road en route to Moradabad in western UP.Big hoardings were put up with the slogan ‘27 Saal, UP Behaal’.. People greeted the convoy at Garh Mukteshwar, Gajraula, Joya Amroha and at villages on the route.
Party’s campaign chief Sanjay Singh, Raj Babbar, former MP P L Punia and Rajya Sabha member Pramod Tiwari called upon people to support the Congress for a better future.
Naseem Jahan, who arrived with a group of Muslim women, said that the change of guard in the party’s state unit would help the party infuse fresh vigour among its workers who had seen no hope of revival due to a ‘weak leadership’ earlier.