Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi is set to kick off his party’s campaign in Gujarat, riding a bullock cart while embarking on three-day yatra beginning with offering prayers at Dwarkadhish Temple.
The local authorities declined permission to hold the road show in an open jeep in this historical town, but that did not deter him from choosing to ride a traditional bullock cart in a village and interacting with farmers in this OBC-dominated Dwarka district.
Mr. Gandhi will have brief halts for interactions and meetings with farmers, fishermen, and party workers around a dozen places during the day, covering two districts, Devbhumi Dwarka and Jamnagar, with seven assembly segments. In Dwarka, he will be given a traditional welcome by women dressed in local traditional attire of Ahir and Rabari pastoral communities.
“He will ride a bullock cart to enter the village and then hold an interaction in traditional sitting arrangements. There will be around 1200 people, mostly villagers and a few others,” said Pala Ambalia, a Congress leader in Hanjrapar village on Khambhalia Dwarka highway.
Starting with prayers at the temple, Mr. Gandhi will end his day with interactions with small businessmen and traders in Jamnagar, a hub of small factories of brass parts employing thousands of people, but recently hit hard by the introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST).
After Jamnagar, he will move to the Patidar belt Dhrol, Tankara and Rajkot where he will meet local businessmen, traders and small industrialists in the city, a hub of small and medium engineering units, auto parts manufacturers and agro industry products.
