Rahul Gandhi to address jewellers, visit Deonar

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi will visit Nagpur to take part in the concluding function of the 125th birth anniversary celebrations of Babasaheb Ambedkar on April 11, and a mammoth rally has been lined up for the occasion. Also, Mr Gandhi will visit Mumbai the next day to support the ongoing jewellers’ strike and take a look at the Deonar dumping ground.

Several top party leaders, including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, the leader of the party in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, members of the party’s working committee and chief ministers of Congress-ruled states are likely to attend the Nagpur rally.

Sharing details of the Gandhis’ itinerary, Congress leaders said they would arrive on a special flight from New Delhi at 3.30 pm on Monday and head directly to the historic Deekshabhoomi, where Dr Ambedkar embraced Buddhism in 1956, to pay homage to the architect of the Indian Constitution. After this, they will proceed to the state guesthouse, Ravi Bhawan Colleges, and meet leaders from Maharashtra, said Nagpur city and district Congress chief Vikas Thakre. At 5.20 pm, they will drive down to Kasturchand Park where the party is expecting a record turnout of supporters.

Speaking about the Mumbai visit, city unit president Sanjay Nirupam said that Mr Gandhi would visit Zaveri bazaar to extend his support to jewellers, who have been on strike for over 30 days in protest of the excise tax imposed on them. “Over six crore families are dependent on the jewellery industry in the country, but finance minister Arun Jaitley has refused to meet them. Rahulji will be speaking to them at Zaveri bazaar to understand the issue,” Mr Nirupam said.

“Rahulji will try to understand the issue by visiting the dumping ground. The fire at the ground has created lot of problems for Mumbaikars in last few days,” he added.