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Congress plans 'BJP hatao' yatra in Gujarat

The Gujarat Congress is planning a 'BJP hatao, Gujarat bachao' (Remove BJP, Save Gujarat) yatra to counter the 'misinformation' that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party allegedly plans to spread through its 'Gujarat Gaurav Yatra'.

State Congress spokesman Hasmukh Patel said plans are afoot to launch the "counter-yatra" to contradict the BJP's propaganda and focus on good governance, development and law and order for the party's election campaign.

"We will not indulge in a negative campaign [of the sort] that Chief Minister Narendra Modi has resorted to," Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee president Amarsinh Chaudhary said in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.

He was referring to the campaign against him in Surat where the BJP is showing videocassettes of his allegedly callous reaction to the Godhra carnage. There are also reports of a CD-ROM showing Chaudhary's "khooni punja" (bloody palm, an upraised palm being the Congress election symbol).

"The chief minister thinks the people are fools and will believe all the lies he tells them," Chaudhary remarked.

The Congress has kept its plan flexible and is waiting for the BJP to first announce the plan for its own yatra. Spokesman Patel, however, said that the Congress yatra would cover all villages and talukas in the state.

The state BJP has constituted a committee to plan and execute Modi's yatra. Member of Parliament Jayanti Barot has been appointed coordinator of the committee. Its other members are Karsan Patel, minister of state for development of socially and educationally backward classes, Sarkhej legislator Amit Shah, state BJP vice-president Jitendra Sukhadia, Amreli MP Dilip Sanghani, Vijay Rupani, chairman of the party's manifesto implementation committee, and Saurashtra organisational secretary Bhikhu Dalsaniya. The committee will decide when the yatra should begin and make suggestions for its successful organisation.

Meanwhile, the Congress has objected to the state government's plan to appoint six gram mitras (friends of the village) in every village. Chaudhary told reporters that the Congress would draw the Election Commission's attention to the matter and even seek a stay from the courts, if need be. "The BJP is trying to use the state's funds for its election campaign," he alleged.

The government had recently announced its plan to employ six gram mitras in every village for a monthly compensation of Rs 1,000 till February 2003.

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