Kolkata: The April 19 'Kisan rally' in the national capital is not a comeback show for Rahul Gandhi, but to put pressure on the Narendra Modi-led government to withdraw the anti-farmer clauses in the Land Bill, Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda said on Friday.
"The rally is for the farmers and not a comeback show for Rahul Gandhi," Hooda, Lok Sabha member from Haryana and Congress spokesperson, told reporters on the sidelines of a programme at Indian Chamber of Commerce here.
"The aim of the Kisan rally is to create pressure on the Modi government to withdraw the anti-farmer clauses in the Land Bill which was passed in the Lok Sabha recently," he said when asked whether the proposed rally would become the comeback show for Rahul.
The rally would also demand adequate compensation for the farmers who were suffering from crop loss owing to unseasonal rainfall, he added.
He said Rahul Gandhi played a major role during the framing of the Land Acquisition Bill, 2013, while responding to a query on the Congress Vice-President's absence in Parliament during the passage of the Bill.
On Rahul's return from a 56-day sabbatical, he said, "I do not know of anyone who has not taken a break", but refused to comment on the timing of the unexplained leave.
Asked whether he favoured Rahul's elevation to the top post in Congress party, he said that it was a united entity where Sonia Gandhi is the President and Rahul Gandhi the Vice-President.
