The Congress will start a 100-km mega rally in Rajasthan next week, which will pass through the constituencies of the chief minister and her son, to press for various demands such as redressing farmer issues.
The party will also hold a protest in all district headquarters tomorrow over rising fuel prices, state Congress chief Sachin Pilot told reporters here today.
The ‘Kisan Nyay Yatra’ will start from Baran district on October 3 and culminate into ‘Kisan Sammelan’ on October 6 in Jhalawar. Chief minister Vasundhara Raje’s assembly constituency — Jhalrapatan — falls under Jhalawar district, and her son, Dushyant Singh, is the present Lok Sabha MP of Jhalawar-Baran Lok Sabha constituency.
The rally will be held to put pressure on the government for a complete loan-waiver for farmers, GST exemption on agriculture equipment and raising the minimum support price for their produce, Pilot said.
“Seventy-five cash-strapped farmers in Rajasthan were forced to commit suicide and most of the suicides have occurred in the Hadoti region of the state, of which CM Raje is also a representative,” Pilot clarified for choosing Baran to commence the rally.
The 40-year-old former Union minister alleged that farmers have “suffered the most” in the last three years apart from youths, traders and middle-class families.
“Input cost is increasing and farmers are not getting the right price for their crops,” he alleged.
He also attacked the BJP leaders in the government, who protested against rising fuel prices when the UPA was in power, but now have maintained a studied silence.
“BJP leaders, who are now ministers in the government, garnered votes from people riding on their sympathies on rising fuel prices.
I saw archived videos of those BJP leaders. The BJP manifesto clearly mentions reducing fuel prices, Pilot said.
Pilot also questioned the logic of people paying the same price for fuel, at a time when the international crude oil prices have come down from $ 145 per barrel during the UPA regime, to $50-55 per barrel now.