Rajasthan Cong, BJP plan 'yatras' to woo voters

The ruling Congress and Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party are both set to hit the road and undertake 'yatras', aimed at garnering support among the masses for Assembly elections lined up in the state later this year.

The Congress will launch its 'Sandesh Yatra' on March 30 with an effort to woo people with the flagship schemes, programmes and initiatives launched by the state government.

The BJP, on the other hand, plans to kick-off its 'Suraj Sankalp Yatra' to highlight issues related to farmers, corruption, inflation and unemployment in the state.

The BJP's yatra is at the initiative of party state president and former chief minister Vasundhara Raje who is its chief ministerial candidate for the polls and each phase of its yatra will start from famous temples in each of the seven divisions, with the tour beginning on April 4 from Charbhuja temple in Udaipur division.

Talking about the Congress yatra, party state president Dr Chandrabhan said, besides chief minister Ashok Gehlot, party’s in-charge for political affairs Mukul Wasnik and other MLAs and MPs will address election meetings.

"Ours is a party-based yatra and all leaders of the state will address public meetings. We are covering all 200 constituencies in 33 districts and will highlight the achievements of the state government, flagship schemes and pro-people programmes," he said.

The inaugural meeting will be at the PCC office and public meetings will also take place in Bassi, Dausa, Geejgarh and Nadauti on March 30, the first day.

As for the BJP, after its yatra is flagged off on April 4 in the presence of the party's national president Rajnath Singh, the second phase of the yatra will begin from Keshoray temple in Kota division on April 22.

Ganpati temple in Ranthambore, Diggi Kalyan temple (Tonk), Mukam pilgrimage in Nokha, Ramdevra temple (Jodhpur) and Khatushyam Ji temple are the other spots from where Raje is scheduled to resume her yatra in Bharatpur, Ajmer, Bikaner, Jodhpur and Jaipur divisions respectively.

Updates on the 13,500-km long yatra will be available on social networking sites, BJP spokesperson Kailash Nath Bhatt said.