Rahul Gandhi's two-day Karnataka visit to begin today
Bengaluru (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will arrive in poll-bound Karnataka on a two-day visit to take part in a host of events, including party rally in Kolar on Sunday.
This is the maiden visit of Gandhi to the state after his disqualification from the Lok Sabha following his conviction in a 2019 defamation case.
According to party sources, the former Congress president is expected to reach Bengaluru in the morning and then proceed to Kolar by a helicopter.
Gandhi will address a public meeting in Kolar as part of Congress' 'Jai Bharat' rally.
During the 2019 Lok Sabha election campaign in Kolar, Rahul Gandhi had made the Modi surname remark, which led to his conviction by a Gujarat court and his subsequent disqualification from Parliament.
The Kolar event, which was earlier called 'Satyameva Jayate', was scheduled to take place on April 5, but was postponed twice. The even renamed as 'Jai Bharat' rally was rescheduled to April 16.
After his address in Kolar, the Congress leader will return to Bengaluru by helicopter in the afternoon.
Later, in the evening, Gandhi will interact with the 'Pourakarmika', the sanitation workers and street vendors in the state capital.
After the meeting, he will inaugurate the newly-built Indira Gandhi Bhawan, office and auditorium with a seating capacity of 750 people,in the city.
The leader will stay at a hotel in Bengaluru tonight. On Monday, he will take a special flight from the HAL airport to Bkhalki in Bidar district, where he will address a public meeting.
Congress working president Eshwar Khandre is contesting from Bhalki.
Rahul Gandhi will address another public meeting in Humnabad in the same district. The Congress has fielded Rajashekar Basavaraj Patil in this assembly segment.
In the afternoon, the Gandhi scion will travel to Hyderabad by a helicopter from where he will fly back to Delhi.
For the 224-seat assembly, the Congress has so far announced candidates for 209 seats, including 124 in the first list, 42 in the second list and 43 in the third.
The party is yet to announce seats of 15 more candidates.
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Busy making reels: Kanhaiya Kumar stokes row with remark on Fadnavis's wife
Nagpur, Nov 14: Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar on Thursday took a personal jibe at Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis over the latter's recent comment about countering "vote jihad' with "vote dharmyudh".
Is it that common people will fight this "dharmyudh" while children of leaders will study abroad far away from all this, Kumar asked.
"Or will it happen that we will fight to protect 'dharma' while the deputy CM's wife makes Instagram reels," he said addressing a rally for the Congress in Nagpur South West seat.
If "dharma" needs to be protected, then everyone will do it together, Kumar added.
In a rally recently, Fadnavis had said "vote jihad" took place in the Lok Sabha polls and members of a particular community ensured BJP did not get their votes. He claimed the Mahayuti lost the Dhule Lok Sabha seat due to this voting pattern in Malegaon.
Attacking Fadnavis, the former student activist asked why the BJP leader had a problem with sharing the CM's tenure with Uddhav Thackeray when he went on to be CM Eknath Shinde's deputy.
"Why did you split Balasaheb Thackeray's Shiv Sena? If you believed the NCP was corrupt, why did you induct its faction into the Mahayuti? This is because Shinde is not CM but chowkidar of corrupt Gujarati businessman," Kumar said in a swipe at the BJP-led ruling alliance.
In Nagpur South West, Congress' Prafulla Gudhade Patil is pitted against Fadnavis.
