New Delhi: After Bhatta Parsaul, Rahul
Gandhi will reach out to farmers in Aligarh in poll-bound
Uttar Pradesh with the Congress organising a 'kisan
mahapanchayat' there on July 9.
The decision to shift the venue of the 'grand
assembly' of farmers to Aligarh, which has also witnessed
agitation over land acquisition issue, was taken after
Mayawati Government declined permission to hold the meet at
Bhatta Parsaul in Greater Noida, where Rahul had joined the
farmers' stir in May.
The decision was taken after UPCC chief Rita Bahuguna
Joshi met party general secretary Digvijay Singh and other
senior leaders in this regard, Girish Srivastav, the media
in-charge of Joshi, said.
The meet will highlight the problems of farmers
especially that of land acquisition.
The Bhatta Parsaul stir had seen Mayawati on the
backfoot and Digvijay Singh had recently remarked that the UP
Chief Minister was "afraid of Rahul Gandhi".
Gandhi made a dramatic entry into Bhatta Parsaul
during the peak of the farmers' agitation and his subsequent
comments on rape of women and bones in ash heaps found there
had raised a strorm leading to a war of words between BSP and
Congress.
UPCC spokesman Subodh Srivasatava said the Aligarh
district administration has granted permission for the
mahapanchayat.
"The party has got the permission to organise the
mahapanchayat at the exhibition ground in Aligarh on July 9
which would be addressed by Rahul Gandhi and UPCC president
Rita Bahuguna Joshi besides other senior leaders," he said in
Lucknow.
Consultations would be held with farmers, committees
among others on the proposed amendment in the Land Acquisition
Act, Srivastava said.
After the Congress leader took up the cause of
farmers of Bhatta Parsaul following police action on them
there, Gandhi has emerged as a leading voice raising issues
concerning farmers' rights and this frustrated the state
government which was not granting permission for holding the
mahapanchayat but the party was firm in its resolve.
The UPCC president had yesterday said that permission
was sought for holding the mahapanchayat in Bhatta Parsaul on
Wednesday but the government had denied it.
"As an alternative to Bhatta Parsaul, we had
suggested Rajopura and Dhankohar villages near Bhatta Parsaul
and Jewar area but the government did not agree," she had said
adding that later permission was sought for organising the
programme in Tappal area of Aligarh district which was also
disallowed.
Srivasatava said that all preparations for the
mahapanchayat have been completed.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, July 02, 2011, 20:47