Rahul launches 'chaupal sabhas' for mother's re-election

Rae Bareli, UP, Apr 25 (UNI) Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi has launched a series of 'chaupal sabhas' and mini road-shows to win votes for mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi -- seeking re-election from the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat.

Rahul, with his trusted lieutenants from Amethi, has chalked out a two-tier programme to garner a record number of votes for Ms Gandhi.

His aides are basically people selected by him to carry out development work in Amethi. ''This time he is using his Amethi aides to campaign for his mother,'' said a party leader in the state capital.

Congress sources said the Amethi MP's team had planned out his campaigning for the May 8 bypoll.

''Before the D-Day, Rahul would cover all the five assembly segments of Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat by either holding 'chaupal sabhas' or jansampark (mini road show) programmes,'' said a leader associated with the campaigning.

During jansampark, Rahul would meet people on roadside. The young MP would also hold small meetings in form of a village chaupal to interact with villagers and traditional Congress voters.

The focus of campaigning would largely concentrate on Ms Gandhi's work for the constituency before she resigned on March 23, her role in national politics and her ''sacrifices'' -- first when she refused to be the Prime Minister and second when she stepped down as Lok Sabha member and chairperson of National Advisory Council (NAC) after the office of profit controversy.

The posters prepared by the AICC for the bypoll also concentrate on these issues.

Ms Gandhi and her daughter Priyanka, meanwhile, would hit the campaign trail in the first week of May, just before the polls.

Rahul's team for the bypoll consists of former MP and family confidant Capt Satish Sharma, Kishori Lal Sharma and another family friend and ex-Air Force official Manoj Mattu.

The Amethi MP has made each of his lieutenants in charge of the five assembly segments of the LS seat.

While Mattu has been made in charge of Sadar, Kanishka has been given the charge of Saraini. Similarly, Ram Krishna has been given the charge of Bachrawan and Satawan segment has been entrusted with Desh Mukh. Ms Vijaya Murthi has been made to camp at Dalmau.

Meanwhile, Congress sources in the neighbouring Sultanpur district in which Amethi is located, said 20 hi-tech vans equipped with video publicity material had been prepared for pro-active campaigning for the Congress president in Rae Bareli.

The same vans were pressed into election campaigning for both mother and son in Rae Bareli and Amethi during 2004 general elections.

The supporters of the young Congress MP are lending a helping hand for their colleagues in Rae Bareli.

Right from teams of 10 Congress workers culled from every development blocks to women working round-the-clock to craft flags, badges and other election campaign material, the party machinery is in full swing.

The tech savy Amethi MP has also ensured optimum use of IT for making the poll campaign successful. The computers are being fed with booth-wise details and strategies drawn up to ensure maximum Congress votes in all the booths.

Interestingly, Ms gandhi, who was elected to Lok Sabha for the first time from Amethi in 1999, had shifted to Rae Bareli in 2004.

Her son Rahul's maiden LS election victory came from Amethi constituency, represented in the past by father and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

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