Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to kick off the party’s campaign for the upcoming Assembly elections in Assam on Sunday.
He would address a rally in eastern Assam’s Sivasagar, close to a historic field from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the Bharatiya Janata Party’s poll campaign in January.
“We are expecting a large turnout at the Sivasagar mega rally, the first of four the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee has planned in as many strategic places before starting the formal election campaign,” State party president Ripun Bora said.
He said Priyanka Vadra would address some of the other rallies planned.
Mr. Gandhi’s visit would follow a “bus yatra” the State unit had launched on Friday to drum up support for its “Axom Basaon Ahok (Come, let’s save Assam)” campaign.
The yatra, started from four regions, involves a two-week tour for senior leaders with the objective of meeting voters and discussing their grievances and issues.
A yatra each would be led by MPs Pradyut Bordoloi and Gaurav Gogoi, MLA and Congress Legislature Party chief Debabrata Saikia and Mahila Congress president Sushmita Dev.
“Today, Assam is facing a grave crisis. The peace and prosperity are both under threat from the BJP. We have to go to the people for a new imagination of our future and to save Assam,” Mr. Bordoloi said.
The Congress has stitched a grand alliance with perfume baron Badruddin Ajmal’s All India United Democratic Front and four other parties.
