Senior Congress leaders reached Siliguri on Saturday and held a series of meetings with party leaders of north Bengal districts to discuss the Bengal leg of the ongoing Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi.
K.C. Venugopal, a general secretary of the All India Congress Committee, and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the Bengal Congress chief and Behrampore MP, along with some other state leaders, spoke in detail with their party colleagues based in this region about the yatra that is likely to enter Bengal from Assam on January 25.
After covering some of the districts in north Bengal, Rahul is scheduled for heading to Bihar on January 29.
“Rahul Gandhi’s yatra was a huge success in Assam. Thousands of people, including youth and women, took part,” said Venugopal, after a round of the preparatory meeting.
According to Congress leaders, Rahul’s programmes in Bengal will be in two parts, that is, on January 24-25 and January 28-29.
On these days, he will join road shows and speak in public meetings at different locations of Cooch Behar, Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri, Siliguri and North Dinajpur. In the course of the yatra, he is also likely to take a two-day break on January 26 and 27 and stay in Falakata of Alipurduar.
On January 24, Rahul is likely to enter Cooch Behar through Assam-Bengal border in Boxirhat. He will then walk in Tufanganj and Cooch Behar town, before leaving for Falakata.
“In Falakata, there is likely to be a break in the yatra for the next two days. He will resume the march again on January 28 and leave for Jalpaiguri,” said a source.
In Jalpaiguri, he will walk on a route and address a public meeting. In the afternoon, he will reach Siliguri.
“A march through some prominent thoroughfares of the city has been planned. We are inviting people from different walks of life. Rahul Gandhi will then address people in a location in the heart of the city,” a Congress leader said.
From Siliguri, Rahul will head for Sonapur, which is around 40km from here in North Dinajpur district, and stay at night.
On January 29, he will move through Islampur subdivision of North Dinajpur and enter Bihar via Kishanganj.
“I know that Congress workers in Bengal have suffered a lot as the party has been in opposition for over 40 years. I think this is an opportunity for them to prove themselves by ensuring maximum participation in the yatra. If you properly inform people that Rahul Gandhi is coming, I think people will join the yatra cutting across political lines,” said Venugopal, who is also a Rajya Sabha MP.
During the meeting, party leaders from Alipurduar requested him to consider a proposal to change the route of the yatra so that Rahul Gandhi could cover the tea belt. Alipurduar has over 60 tea gardens and the tea population decides Lok Sabha poll results. In 2019, the BJP had won the seat.
“The chief minister has visited Alipurduar over 30 times and even the Prime Minister has visited twice. We want Rahul Gandhi too to visit the tea belt,” said a Congress leader from Alipurduar.
Venugopal, asked about sharing seats with Trinamul in Bengal, was brief: “In Bengal, our priority is to reduce the seats of the BJP. It is our common goal."
Both Congress and Trinamul are constituents of the INDIA bloc.
On Friday, chief minister Mamata Banerjee told her party leaders to intensify political activities in Murshidabad, Congress leader Chowdhury's home turf.
Chowdhury, when asked to comment on the issue, said: “I have reached my position by contesting elections against everybody. I will do it again.”