Delhi Confidential: Protest Line-Up

Rahul left the country on Monday to attend a course abroad.

Rahul Gandhi

While top Congress leaders will travel across the country from Friday addressing a series of press conferences to take on the government over its management of the economy, ahead of a nationwide agitation next week, there is uncertainty on whether former party chief Rahul Gandhi will be back in India. Sources said the party has planned 35 press conferences between November 1 and 8. From November 5 to 15, it will hit the streets as part of the agitation. Rahul left the country on Monday to attend a course abroad. While he is away, top leaders A K Antony, Mallikarjun Kharge, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ambika Soni, Ajay Maken, Mukul Wasnik, Jairam Ramesh, Manish Tewari and Abhishek Singhvi will be among those travelling across the country to address the media on the economic slowdown and agrarian crisis.

Travel On Track

As the government readies the PM’s Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat programme, one of the issues that came up recently was the need for the youth of one region to travel to another region in a kind of an exchange to learn about other cultures. Discussing travel solutions for the participating youth, the need to keep it seamless and affordable was talked about. The only mode that meets the requirement is Indian Railways, with its connectivity to all parts of India. It has been suggested that the youth who travel to other regions as part of the programme will be given a 50 per cent concession.

Change In Plan

The RSS has ‘postponed’ its meeting of pracharaks, currently working with its affiliate organisations, scheduled to be held in Haridwar from October 31. The meeting, which the RSS brass was slated to attend, was planned well in advance, given the busy tour programmes of senior functionaries. RSS pracharaks loaned to the BJP were also supposed to attend the meeting. For the RSS, which rarely deviates from its annual plan of activities, the decision is surprising as this meeting happens once in five years, and its pracharaks loaned to other organisations get to interact with senior and influential members of the RSS. The postponement has left many tongues wagging. Many are wondering whether the impending verdict on the Ayodhya dispute played on the minds of RSS decision-makers and led them to postpone the meeting until after the ruling.