Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Wednesday called on former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to give a feedback from the poll-bound Uttar Pradesh. He is said to have discussed strategy for coming Assembly elections.
The meetings come ahead of a virtual meeting of the central election committee of the party to finalise the next batch of candidates for the U.P. polls. So far, the Congress has announced 125 candidates for the State, out of which 50 [40 %] are women.
Mr. Baghel, who is a senior observer for the U.P. polls, met Ms. Vadra at Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s 10 Janpath residence and Mr. Gandhi at his 12, Tughlaq Lane house.
However, it is not clear if Mr. Baghel met Ms. Sonia Gandhi.
“I met Rahul Gandhi ji and Priyanka Gandhi ji. We discussed a whole range of issues. It was a formal and courtesy meeting,”said Mr Baghel, who had invited the Gandhis to his son’s wedding next month, told reporters at the Raipur airport.
Tours of U.P.
A source close to him claimed that he shared his assessment after his three tours of U.P. and also discussed how some of the flagship schemes of the Chhattisgarh government could find a place in the party manifestoes for the coming Assembly polls in five States.
These schemes related to providing affordable drugs through generic medicine stores, buying cattle/cow dung from farmers under Godhan Nyay Yojana and setting up Haat Clinics in weekly markets of rural areas to provide free treatment, the source cited above said.
There was greater awareness among people about improving health infrastructure post the COVID-19 pandemic and the government/ the political party that offered a better deal on the health front would stand to gain, added the source.
Since January 17, Mr. Baghel had carried out door to door campaigns in Noida, Ghaziabad and Mathura regions of western U.P. and wrapped up his tour with a press conference in Lucknow on Wednesday evening.
