Patna: Congress general secretary Priyanka Vadra will be in Bihar on Friday for a day-long tour during which she is scheduled to interact with women self-help groups and address a rally, a senior party leader said here on Thursday.
The announcement was made by Congress legislative party leader Shakeel Ahmed Khan at a press conference, where he was joined by AICC general secretary Syed Naseer Hussain and BPCC president Rajesh Kumar, among others.
“Priyanka Vadra will take part in a Mahila Samvad here around noon. At 3 pm, she will be in Motihari to address a public meeting”, said Khan.
This would be Vadra’s second visit to the state in about a month.
Her last trip was in August for the ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ that saw her brother Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, cover a distance of over 1,300 km, across 25 districts, within a fortnight.
Rahul promises law for EBCs in Bihar on lines of SC/ST Atrocities Act
Patna, Sep 24 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday reached out to the numerically powerful extremely backward classes (EBCs) of Bihar, promising, among other things, a law for protection against atrocities, on the lines of the SC/ST Act, if the INDIA bloc came to power in the state.
Gandhi’s aggressive EBC outreach, days ahead of the announcement of assembly polls, came at an event titled, evocatively, ‘Ati Pichhda Nyay Sankalp’ (pledge for justice to extremely backward classes).
The Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, who was here to attend the Congress Working Committee meeting in the city, came to the event along with the party’s national president Mallikarjun Kharge.
They were joined by allies like RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, whose presence flew in the face of speculations in a section of the media that he was upset over Gandhi’s apparent reluctance to formally declare him as the coalition’s chief ministerial candidate.
Gandhi began his brief speech by reading out the 10 resolves that promised welfare of EBCs in particular, and deprived castes, including SCs, STs and OBCs in general.
The EBCs, according to the caste survey conducted by the Nitish Kumar government a few years ago, comprise 36 per cent of the state’s total population.
Besides an ‘EBCs Prevention of Atrocities Act’, the 10 resolves of the party promise a rise in quotas for the EBCs in local bodies and panchayats, from the existing 20 per cent to 30 per cent.
Also on offer are a total of 50 per cent quota for SCs, STs, OBCs and EBCs “in government contracts worth up to Rs 25 crore”, “admissions to private educational institutions in the state” and “three decimals of land in urban areas and five decimals in rural areas” to landless families from the deprived castes.
The outreach by Gandhi marks an ambitious bid to make a dent in a support base that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who heads the JD(U), has cultivated over the years.
Gandhi said, “Nitish Kumar has been in power for 20 years. He could have brought in the proposed Act. He could have done all that we promise to do. But he did not, because he treated EBCs and other deprived castes as items to be used and thrown.” The Raebareli MP also voiced disapproval of the Yogi Adityanath government, in adjoining Uttar Pradesh, banning caste-based political rallies, and having “told Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament” that caste census and scrapping of 50 per cent cap on quotas were necessary.
Whipping out his favourite pocket-sized, red cover copy of the Constitution, Gandhi said, “The Samvidhan guarantees every section of the society a share in the nation’s wealth.” “The 10 resolves are not mere points given in a bullet form. These are guarantees. These reflect a vision that is not of political parties like ours, but of the deprived sections. We have been in talks with women, youth and leaders belonging to the weaker sections,” he said.
The 55-year-old leader began his brief address by thanking the youth of Bihar for the success of the recently held ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’.
At the end of his speech, Gandhi said, “Vote theft will be exposed thoroughly. Wait for a few days. Hydrogen bomb is coming”.
The former Congress president has earlier said that his party will come out with a “hydrogen bomb” of revelations about “vote chori” and after that, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not be able to show his face to the country.
Kharge, in his speech, lambasted Nitish Kumar for returning to the NDA last year and said, “By realigning with the BJP, Nitish has shown that he is in support of ‘Manuvaad’ (caste-based hierarchy)”.
Turning towards Tejashwi Yadav, the Congress president said, “Don’t give in if tomorrow he again approaches you for a realignment. We have seen ‘Aya Ram Gaya Ram’ in Haryana. We do not want ‘Aya Nitish Gaya Nitish’ here.” Addressing the gathering, Yadav said, “The government of Nitish Kumar has been, of late, copying all promises made by us. May be, they will do so with respect to the 10 resolves unveiled today as well”.
Alleging that the weaker sections were getting a raw deal under the NDA rule, the former Deputy CM, who is now the leader of the opposition, cited a recent incident in Darbhanga.
“An EBC journalist was beaten up and abused by BJP minister Jibesh Kumar Mishra and his supporters. But even an FIR was not lodged until I went to Darbhanga and intervened. The minister has retaliated with an FIR against me, in which I have been accused of defrauding a person of Rs 200,” said Yadav.
He alleged that all those who are fighting the BJP get slapped with cases, citing examples of Gandhi, besides Azam Khan, a former Uttar Pradesh minister, who recently walked out of jail after two years.
The function was also addressed by former state minister Mukesh Sahni, an EBC leader, who heads Vikassheel Insan Party, and had joined the INDIA bloc in the thick of last year’s Lok Sabha polls.
“I thank my allies for the 10 resolves which will benefit the EBCs in the same way as our SC/ST brethren had benefited from provisions made for them by Babasaheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar in the Constitution”, said Sahni.
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)