Rahul Gandhi to kick-start Congress’ Karnataka poll campaign From Belagavi

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, Mar 20, 2023: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi will today, for the first time since a successful ’Bharat Jodo Yatra’ in Karnataka, enter the state to kickstart the grand old party’s election campaign. The Wayanad MP will address a mega rally in the Belagavi district amid an increasingly heated poll battle for the summer assembly elections.

 

Mr Gandhi will take part in the ’Yuva Kranti Rally’, to announce the Congress’ fourth poll promise. The party’s unit in Karnataka, when it began its election campaign in January, promised ’five guarantees’ if voted to power.

Three have been announced so far -- 200 units of free power to all households, ₹ 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family, and 10 kg of free rice to every member of a Below Poverty Line (BPL) household.

During his visit, the former Congress president will announce the fourth guarantee, which is aimed at catering to the youth. He will hold a meeting with Congress workers to discuss the poll strategies in Belagavi. After making his first political speech ahead of the state elections, he will leave for Tumakuru. 70 km northwest of Bengaluru, where he will attend a rally.

Belagavi, with 18 Assembly seats, has the second-largest number of seats, after Bengaluru, and the party hopes to strengthen its prospects in the northern region of the state. The BJP holds 13 of the 18 seats in Belagavi.

Karnataka goes to the polls in May this year to elect representatives from 224 assembly seats.