Congress president Rahul Gandhi will visit Chikkamagaluru, a place which has a significant place in the history of the party, and neighbouring Hassan district on Wednesday.
He will begin his tour in the district with a visit to Sharada Peetha at Sringeri. His father Rajiv Gandhi and Indira Gandhi had also visited the place in the past. He will meet Bharati Tirtha Swamy. Later, he will address a public rally in Chikkamagaluru.
Rahul Gandhi will participate in another rally in Hassan in the evening.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Congress has made arrangements for the rally at the district stadium in Hassan.
Rahul Gandhi’s grandmother and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi contested a by-election for the Chikkamagaluru Lok Sabha seat in 1978 and won.
People of the district elected her in a tough battle against former Chief Minister Veerendra Patil, who was then the Janata Party candidate.
ADVERTISEMENT
The by-election was necessitated following the resignation of the then MP D.B. Chandre Gowda. He had given up his seat so that Indira Gandhi could fight the by-election. Those were the post-Emergency days when the party was in a bad state.
Minister for Sericulture A. Manju, who is also the minister in-charge of the district, here on Tuesday, told presspersons that Rahul Gandhi’s visit would boost the morale of the party workers ahead of the elections.
“We are expecting at least 10,000 each from each taluk in the district for the rally. Along with Rahul Gandhi, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, KPCC president Dr. G. Parameshwara, working presidents S.R. Patil, Dinesh Gundurao, campaign committee chairman D.K. Shivakumar and others would participate in the programmes,” he said.