Rahul Gandhi’s Punjab Yatra in November

NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi will embark on an 350-km, four-day road tour in Punjab next month, beginning from Golden Temple and going till Patiala, Captain Amarinder Singh’s home ground.
With Arvind Kejriwal expected to spend 50 days in Punjab over next three months, Congress is sending in its firepower too. A mega rally of Gandhi is planned in Mo g a i n December. Before that, Gandhi will begin a roadshow from Amritsar soon after Diwali by visiting Golden Temple, Jalianwala Bagh, Durgiana Temple and Ram Tirath temple.

Gandhi will travel on the highway through Beas, Kartarpur, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Patiala and Rajpura over three more days.

Gandhi will have two major public meetings every day with different sections of people like traders in Amritsar, leather and sports goods manufacturers in Jalandhar, industrialists in Ludhiana and ex-servicemen in Jalandhar. “People will come on the highway to welcome him at swagat points. 40% of constituencies are along the highway.

Most farmers are in grain markets and busy ahead of wheat season hence big rallies right don’t make sense,” a Congress leader told ET.

During the road show, Gandhi will focus on “putting his stamp” on Congress promises of full loan waiver for farmers for which the party has collected over 22 lakh mangpatras so far, the Congress leader said.

“Congress has credibility on the loan waiver promise as we have earlier waived off farmer loans under UPA at the Centre,” Congress MP Pratap Singh Bajwa told ET.