Security tightened as Cong readies farmers’ rally

Bhopal: The Congress has stepped up preparations for a farmers' rally in Bhopal on Tuesday. The opposition party billed the ‘Kisan Mahapanchayat' as the launch of a campaign against the Indo-US trade deal. Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and party national president Mallikarjun Kharge are scheduled to address the rally at Atal Path in Jawahar Chowk. The hoardings showing Rahul Gandhi and Kharge carrying ploughs on their shoulder have started appearing near the PCC headquarters in Shivaji Nagar, exterior walls of the PCC are being painted and special armed force (SAF) jawans seem to have taken over the security of the building perhaps in the light of violence during BJYM protest at the PCC headquarter on Saturday. In a video released on Sunday morning, PCC chief Jitu Patwari thanked Gandhi and Kharge for choosing the Madhya Pradesh capital to launch the campaign against the Indo-US trade deal. Later in the day he visited village Acharpura on the outskirts of the city to interact with the farmers and invite them for the ‘Kisan Mahapanchayat'. Unlike the normal days at the PCC with little activities in sight, there were hectic activities being carried out with the influx of Congress workers particularly from its social media wing, who were later addressed by party's national spokesperson Supriya Srinet, who is in-charge of party's social media wing, and other leaders including party's general secretary in-charge of party affairs for MP Harish Chaudhary and Jitu Patwari. Later, in the evening a meeting of PCC office-bearers, district presidents and party MLAs was scheduled to take place at the PCC headquarters to decide the strategy to make the ‘Kisan Mahapanchayat' a grand success. At the venue of the event at Jawahar Chowk, chairs, tents and other goods were being offloaded till the evening but there were more police personnel inspecting the site than party workers. A PCC office-bearer at the site, when asked how many farmers and representatives of farmers' organisations the party is expecting, said: "You come on the day of the ‘Mahapanchayat' and see for yourself."