Party workers question Rahul's absence after declaration of Assembly polls dates

| | New Delhi
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Party workers question Rahul's absence after declaration of Assembly polls dates

Monday, 10 January 2022 | Deepak Kumar Jha | New Delhi

Party workers question Rahul's absence after declaration of Assembly polls dates

There is a huge resentment in the Congress' workers and leaders over the absence of former party chief Rahul Gandhi's fortnight-long foreign vacation when he is needed in the country to oversee the preparation for the forthcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa. The Election Commission has already announced the poll schedules.

 Rahul left for abroad on December 30 for a five-day “private vacation”. Sources say he will return only after January 15.

 Punjab unit of the party had to reschedule Rahul's Moga Rally scheduled for January 3 and the new dates were January 15. Now, this cannot happen due to the restriction imposed by the election watchdog on holding election rallies due to rising Covid cases. Rahul was to sound the poll bugle from Moga before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit of January 5. The PM's visit was canceled due to a security lapse.

 Party workers and leaders are clueless as to why Rahul extended his vacation when poll schedules have been announced and other political parties have plunged headlong into campaigns and finalization of candidates. 

 The Congress has high stakes Punjab, Goa, and Uttarakhand polls where the party is expecting to do well. The Congress is in with a chance to retain Punjab and make a bid to stage a comeback in Uttarakhand and Goa.

 Rahul Gandhi had also gone abroad before the party and the Opposition was busy planning a joint strategy for the Winter Session of Parliament which saw a major standoff between the ruling and the Opposition benches.

 In December 2020, Rahul left for Italy on the 136th foundation day of the Congress. In October 2019, just 15 days before the Assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra, the Gandhi scion had reportedly gone abroad.

 In November 2019, the Congress had planned as many as 35 press conferences across the country against Modi Govt's policies, but Rahul Gandhi, who allegedly gave directions for the press conferences, skipped them himself.

 In May 2019, before the counting of votes of the Parliamentary elections, Rahul Gandhi flew to London and skipped an important meeting held by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to decide on a PM candidate.

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