Rahul will return to UP with

has been formed.

“We will be carrying forward the campaign that we started last year. Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi will revisit the farmers and the party will mount pressure on the BJP government to address their problems,” Goswami said.

The programme is likely to begin from August, though the route is yet to be finalised.

Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) president Raj Babbar said, “At present, the party wants to keep alive its old connect with the farmers. There are no elections round the corner in UP, but the party wants to reassure the farmers that we will continue to fight for them.” The UPCC president said that more than three crore farmers were feeling cheated by the BJP government in the state on the loan waiver scheme, which is yet to reach the beneficiaries. Babbar has asked all district units chiefs and village-level workers and leaders of the party to be the first in reaching out to the farmers whenever they are in trouble.

The Kisan Khat Sabhas that Rahul Gandhi addressed in UP in August last year in the run-up to the Assembly elections had evoked an overwhelming response, even though the event made more news when the farmers ran off with the cots. Gandhi had made over one crore farmers submit “Kisan Maang Patra”, listing details about their debts. These were later handed over to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“This time, the agitation will not be restricted to the streets. We will raise the issues in the state Assembly and the Parliament too,” said Congress MLA Aradhana Mishra.

Party sources claim that the Congress high command is now planning to go it alone in the Lok Sabha elections, because an alliance with a divided Samajwadi Party— Mulayam Singh is strongly opposed to the Congress— will not serve its purpose.

The revival of the Khat Sabha is part of the party’s multipronged strategy to adopt an aggressive posture for its revival and position itself as a viable alternative to the ruling party for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.