Patna: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will on Thursday pick up the threads of his 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' with a public meeting in Bihar's Aurangabad district, about 150 km from the state capital. According to senior party leader and MLC Prem Chandra Mishra, AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge is also likely to address the rally.
"Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge are likely to reach Gaya by flight and take a helicopter for Aurangabad. Thereafter, Gandhi will resume the Yatra", Mishra told PTI over phone. Notably, Gandhi was last seen in Bihar a fortnight ago when his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra had covered four districts of the Seemanchal region.
According to Mishra, after the rally, Gandhi is likely to interact with farmers in Tekari Vidhan Sabha area, which falls in Gaya district but is a part of the Aurangabad Lok Sabha constituency. "Gandhi will spend the night at Sasaram. On Friday he will travel to Kaimur district from where we will see him off into the adjoining state of Uttar Pradesh", said Mishra.
Although no longer a force to reckon with in Bihar, Congress counts on Aurangabad and Sasaram as parliamentary constituencies where it retains some influence. The party had last won Aurangabad in 2004, when it had fielded Nikhil Kumar, who later went on to hold gubernatorial assignments in Nagaland and Kerala.
Sasaram seat, represented by former Deputy Prime Minister Jagjivan Ram in the 1960s and 1970s, was again won for the party in 2004 by his daughter Meira Kumar, who retained it five years later when she also went on to become the Lok Sabha Speaker. Mishra was also asked about speculations that Tejashwi Yadav, the young RJD leader who could not attend Gandhi's rally at Purnea last month because of an ED summons, might turn up in Aurangabad.
The Congress leader replied "We have invited all our allies in Bihar to the rally. However, Tejashwi Yadav has certain engagements in Patna, where candidates of his party are scheduled to file nomination papers for Rajya Sabha polls".
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