Kharge will launch the Uttarakhand Congress election campaign from Dehradun
There are five Lok Sabha seats in Uttarakhand, all of which are currently held by the ruling BJP | Photo: PTI
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will arrive here on Sunday to address a public meeting and launch the party’s campaign in the state for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“He is going across the country. We are grateful that he has chosen Uttarakhand to make his call for change,” senior party leader and former chief minister Harish Rawat said.
“Justice is what Rahul Gandhi’s Nyay Yatra is all about. The party president’s program is part of that,” he said. “All levels of society are asking for justice, whether they are women, unemployed youth or farmers.”
Kharge’s meeting will be held at the Bannu School premises in the Race Course area.
The party had sought permission from the district administration to hold the public meeting at the Parade ground but it was not allowed as the venue has been renovated as part of the Dehradun Smart City project and no major public programs are being held at the venue to protect.
The Congress alleged that it was the BJP government’s conspiracy to sabotage the party’s programs across the country as “clearly evident from the manner in which Rahul Gandhi’s Nyay Yatra was disrupted in Assam”.
Congress workers also staged a dharna outside the state police headquarters here, protesting the government’s refusal to allow Kharge’s helicopter to land at the GTC helipad on Sunday.
Led by PCC president Karan Mahara and opposition leader Yashpal Arya, the workers sat outside the state police office in protest.
On repeated requests of the officials, including Dehradun SSP Ajai Singh, they went outside the gates of the state police headquarters but continued their dharna.
They ended the dharna after the intervention of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and the government agreeing that the helicopter would land on the Bannu School premises where Kharge’s rally was to be held.
There are five Lok Sabha seats in Uttarakhand, all of which are currently held by the ruling BJP.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
First print: January 27, 2024 | 11:13 PM IST