The farmers of Bhatta-Parsaul and Tappal villages in Greater Noida and Aligarh areas respectively are likely to hog the limelight in the showcase kisan mahapanchayat to be addressed by Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi here on Saturday.
Elaborate arrangements for the kisan mahapanchayat at the Numaish Ground here have been made, with special efforts being made by the Congress to ensure that the meet remains exclusively for the farmers.
Three stages have been erected at the ground, with Mr Gandhi set to occupy the central position along with eight senior party leaders. On the left stage from that of Mr Gandhi about 150 farmers coming from each of the districts of Uttar Pradesh will be seated. These farmers’ representatives have been nominated by the district Congress presidents in UP.
“In a meeting to be attended by Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh, UPCC president Rita Bahuguna Joshi and other office-bearers late on Friday night, a list of the farmers who will speak from the stage and ask questions to Mr Gandhi will be drawn up,” said Pradeep Srivastava, the executive member of the UPCC, who has drawn out the list of all the nominated farmers for the meeting. Mr Srivastava made it a point to say that the meeting is purely a kisan mahapanchayat and mostly the farmers would speak apart from Mr Gandhi.
On the right side of Mr Gandhi the stage will have Congress MPs and ministers seated, who, however, are not likely to make any speeches. A number of Congress ministers in the UPA, including Pradeep Jain “Aditya”, Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia, are likely to attend.
The Congress leaders in charge of the kiasn mahapanchayat said that Mr Gandhi will speak for half-an-hour while about three hours will be given to the farmers to raise their problems.