UP polls: Congress to announce ‘karja maaf, bijli bill half’ scheme during Pratigya Yatra in October

With an aim to rejuvenate the party in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh and to reach out to maximum electorate, the UP Congress has decided to undertake ‘Pratigya Yatra’ from five cities in October.

During the Yatra, ‘karja maaf, bijli bill half’ scheme will be announced by the grand old party which is trying hard to make a comeback to power in the state where assembly elections are due next year.

“Yatra will be undertaken in the first week of October from five different cities, covering 63 districts of the state. Priyanka Gandhi ji has fixed the tour’s routes, issues to be covered and also outlined the programs to be held during it during her recent visit,” said a top UP Congress leader.

As per party sources, while Congress will highlight failures of the BJP government, rising unemployment, Covid-19 mismanagement, migrant crisis, it will also highlight its own agenda during the Yatra.

The idea is to reach out to maximum people in all five regions of the states.

The Pratigya Yatra will begin from five cities – Agra, Saharanpur, Jhansi, Gorakhpur, and from PM Modi’s constituency Varanasi, said Anil Yadav, organization secretary of the UP Congress.

“Our party will announce huge loan waiver and subsidy in power tariff. ‘Karja maf, bijli bill half’ is our slogan for the Yatra,” said Yadav.

Yadav told NH that Priyanka Gandhi will also join the Yatra at some point, but the plan has not been finalized yet.

Apart from loan waiver and subsidy in power tariff, Congress will also announce compensation for farmers vis-a-vis loss of their crops due to stray cattle, said Yadav.

A farmer in Fatehabad district had died due to shock in January this year after stray cattle destroyed his crop.

UP watchers believe the Congress move may be a game changer in the poll-bound state if the message could be delivered effectively.

After ruling Uttar Pradesh for almost four decades, the Congress was reduced to seven seats in the 2017 Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. BJP had clinched 312 seats in the 403-member Assembly to form the government. The Congress could not cross 50-seats mark in last seven elections.

But party strategists believe that the current political mood is not in the favour of the BJP which can act as a catalyst and turn around the political fortunes of the Congress in Uttar Pradesh.