AHMEDNAGAR, Jan 15: The Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) rally which will be addressed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Shrirampur on January 23 will be a show of strength in a way for the Congress party gearing up for the assembly elections, slated next year.Over six lakh people from Ahmednagar, Nashik, Dhule and Aurangabad districts are expected to attend the rally. For the first time Sonia Gandhi will attend a rally of the party's labour unit, said state INTUC president and MP Govindrao Adik.Till recently, the INTUC membership was open only to organised labour force. Now, the labour wing's membership has been thrown open to farmers, agricultural labour, artists and rural artisans. Therefore, this will be for the first time that unorganised labour class will be attending the INTUC rally.Adik who was a supporter of Sharad Pawar for many years has now joined the loyalists. Therefore, initially, the Pawar supporters had wondered what stance they should take during the rally. However, Pawar himself dispelled doubts when he visited Sangamner recently. He told his supporters that Sonia viewed the State as important for the party and asked them to ensure the rally's success in the party's interest.Adik too has taken steps to involve all party groups in organising the INTUC meet and has kept the rally away from the local contentious issues. Shankarrao Kale, former MP, and Adik who were earlier rivals in the party have now joined together. As a result, Adik has arranged a function in Kopargaon to felicitate Kale. He has also contacted other party veterans from the district including leader of the opposition in the assembly Madhukar Pichad, Prasad Tanpure, MP, Shankarrao Kolhe, Marutrao Ghule and Vasantrao Zaware to seek their participation in the rally.The rally has proved to be an opportunity for many leaders to prepare their moves for the forthcoming assembly elections. These leaders have organised a series of meetings in the district to appeal to people to attend the rally. These campaign meetings for the rally are important for these leaders as the meets are seen as a means to establish contact with their electorates. These campaign meetings are being addressed by Zilla Parishad President Ashok Bhangare in Akole taluka, Vice-President Babasaheb Bhos in Sirgonde taluka, Sambhaji Kale in Kopargao. Party leaders Marutrao Ghule, Appasaheb Rajale, Shankarrao Kale, Balasaheb Thorat, Raosaheb Mhaske have supplied a fleet of vehicles for these campaign meets. In Shrirampur taluka, the meetings are addressed by Bapu Adik, Indranath Thorat, Babanrao Pawar, Sachin Gujar, Sahebrao Aher and Appasaheb Kadam.The rally will be held near the over-bridge on Newase Road. The work for preparing the ground for the rally commenced a week ago. A contact cell has been opened in the local Congress Bhavan. The Congress Bhavan has been provided with additional two telephones and a fax system. A fleet of 1,000 trucks, 600 buses, 1,000 tracks and 500 tempos will be organised to carry people to attend the rally. There will be four parking lots, besides a special parking space for the VVIPs.Since it is a State-level rally, many meets have been organised preceding the rally. A meeting of the Congress office-bearers and representatives of workers in sugar, textile, engineering, bidi and industrial sectors will be held on January 19. The meeting will be addressed by Ramkrishnababa Patil, MP, Sahebrao Dongaonkar, Ankush Tope, Sudhakar Sonwane, Manikrao Palodkar and Namdeorao Gadekar.Preparations for the rally are also being held in Nashik with the Nashik District Congress chief Gopalrao Gulawe and others conducting campaign meetings in different parts of the district.
