Cadre revival in Bihar: Kharge kick-starts padyatra from Banka
New Delhi: Aiming to make a major political makeover of Congress in Bihar, the party on Thursday launched a state-wide padyatra from historically significant Banka, which was once visited by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1966 while being the national president of the Grand Old party.
It’s not that only Congress leaders started their political campaigns from Banka as the incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also launched the 2015 Bihar assembly election campaign from Banka itself, which shows how significant Banka is for getting political dividends.
In contrary to Congress, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and now an ally of Mahagathbandhan, has also started his state-wide outreach progarmme under ‘Samadhan Yatra’ from West Champaran – the district known for Champaran Satyagraha, which was led by Mahatma Gandhi against the British government in 1917.
As per political experts, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge kick-started 1,200-km-long foot march on the lines of Bharat Jodo Yatra in Bihar to revive its old cadre as a part of Lok Sabha elections. The yatra is scheduled to cover 17 districts of Bihar, which is a big political move by the Congress to gain its lost political ground, the experts said, adding that former PM Indira Gandhi had first arrived in Banka in 1966 to inaugurate the PBS College.
Interestingly, Kharge is the second Congress president after Indira Gandhi to visit Banka as none of the other veteran leaders, including Rajive Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, former PMs PV Narasimha Rao, Manmohan Singh, got a chance to visit Banka.
As per Congress leaders, a dozen former Union ministers and governors are scheduled to participate in the Bihar chapter of Bharat Jodo Yatra. The will cover Katoria, Banka and Amarpur assembly constituencies of Banka parliamentary constituency for three days.
Banka is also the homeland of the revolutionary Satish Prasad Jha, one of seven martyrs who hoisted the flag of India at the Secretariat building near Patna on August 11, 1942.
