By: Web Desk | New Delhi | Updated: April 18, 2015 1:45 pm
Back after an eight-week break from active politics, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi today met a delegation of farmers from the states of UP, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab on the land acquisition bill. This is his first public appearance on Saturday after his return from a sabbatical.
(SEE: Photos of Rahul Gandhi meeting the farmer delegation)
The delegation is believed to include farmers from the twin Uttar Pradesh villages of Bhatta Parsaul from where Rahul had launched a “padyatra” in 2011 against forcible land acquisition of farmers, a protest that had culminated in passage of Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.
The Congress is gearing up for a major show of strength during a farmer’s rally in Delhi on Sunday which Rahul will address.
The party is pulling out all stops to ensure a huge turnout at the rally and has held countless meetings to take stock of the preparations.
Senior leader Digvijaya Singh on Friday met all AICC secretaries to take stock. Almost all the top leaders have been given targets for bringing people to the rally.
The neighbouring state units of Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh besides Delhi have been entrusted with the job of filling up the Ramlila Maidan, venue of the Kisan Rally.
The party, meanwhile, attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing him of promoting crony capitalism. “You will find three common names in every CEOs forum which the Prime Minister has directly constituted. All the powers stand concentrated in the PMO… On one hand you have the mounting NPAs of the banks, huge debts runnng into Rs 17,000 to Rs 19,000 crores and the PMO is facilitating the loans by the public sector banks, agreements with other companies in other countries,” senior Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma alleged.
