Congress president Sonia Gandhi yesterday flagged off a three-day bus ‘yatra’ to Uttar Pradesh as part of the party’s preparations for the assembly elections in the northern state early next year.
The 600km bus journey titled ‘27 saal, UP behal’ (No progress in UP for 27 years), started from the party headquarters here.
It will travel through Ghaziabad, Hapur, Amroha and Moradabad on the first day and halt at Moradabad for the night.
At Ghaziabad, the Congress leaders visited the home of municipal councillor Chhote Lal who was murdered on Thursday night.
They demanded that the victim’s family be given financial assistance and his daughter must get a decent job.
An elected member of the Ghaziabad Municipal Council, Chhote Lal was murdered by four assailants while he was sleeping on a bench outside his home.
Over the next two days, the bus will travel through Rampur, Bareilly, Hardoi, Kannauj and end at Kanpur.
The party’s chief ministerial candidate in the state Sheila Dikhit, state Congress chief Raj Babbar and party’s in-charge of the state Ghulam Nabi Azad were among those travelling on the bus.
“As we start our ‘27 Saal, UP Behal Yatra’, I seek your support and blessings,” Dikshit said.
Azad, Babbar and Dikshit will address public rallies at different places along the journey to Kanpur.
The bus will touch 90 assembly segments in the state and is part of the Congress’ efforts to boost its prospects in the state where it has been out of power for almost three decades.
The party won only two of the 80 seats in the state in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
The bus yatra is the second major electoral effort by the party in the state this month.
The party held a road show earlier this week in Lucknow.
The three senior leaders are joined by UP Congress leaders Pramod Tiwari, Meem Afzal, and P L Punia.