With focus now shifting to Uttar Pradesh, where Assembly polls are due in 2012, the Congress is literally taking the battle to the home turf of chief minister Mayawati.
All-India Congress Committee general secretary Digvijay Singh on Saturday told reporters that plans are afoot for a party rally at village Badalpur, native place of the BSP
supremo, in the first week of June. The village falls in Gautam Budh Nagar district. He said that the rally is to protest against the alleged corruption by the Mayawati government and to highlight the plight of dalits in the state.
“Corruption by the Mayawati government and the condition of dalits in Badalpur is the theme of the rally,” he said in reply to a question.
Asked whether AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi would be addressing the rally, he said that the details are yet to be worked out.
Mr Singh, who is in-charge of party affairs in Uttar Pradesh, alleged that Ms Mayawati had bought land in her native place which was acquired by the state government for public purpose. He said that Ms Mayawati has a “huge” farm house in the village.
The acquisition was stopped sometime back when the Congress held a protest in the village, he said.
The Congress’ plan to hold the rally in Badalpur is significant given the fact that the party had made a big issue of land acquisition at the Bhatta Parsaul village in Greater Noida area of Uttar Pradesh where Mr Gandhi and Mr Digvijay Singh had staged a dharna seeking justice for the aggrieved farmers. Turning to organisational affairs, Mr Singh said that the Pradesh Election Committee for Uttar Pradesh would be announced in a day or two.
As part of poll preparations, the party is organising a meeting of the state executive of the Uttar Pradesh Congress at Varanasi next week. It will be inaugurated by Mr Gandhi on May 18 and party chief Sonia Gandhi will be addressing the concluding session.