Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi to Address Third Poll Rally in Odisha on May 15

Bhubaneswar: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will launch his second round of campaigning in Odisha on May 15. He will address a poll rally in Bolangir in Odisha.

According to the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC), Rahul will hold his public meeting in Bolangir town where party’s Lok Sabha and MLAs candidates will also remain present. The public meeting will be preceded by a roadshow.

“We are quite excited about Rahul Gandhi’s visit. He has special connections with the people of Western Odisha. His visit and poll rally will boost our confidence and we will win by big margins,” Samarendra Mishra, the Congress candidate for Bolangir assembly seat, said.

On May 3, Rahul had addressed his Rayagada election rally in Odisha on virtual mode as he was preoccupied with filing of his nomination papers for Raebareli Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh.

Highlighting five guarantees of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), Gandhi had then said that his party would waive off loans of farmers and hike the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy if his party came to power. He also guaranteed that graduates and diploma engineers would be given top priority for jobs, apart from assuring caste census of people of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and backward classes.

Besides, he assured a 50 per cent reservation of women in different job sectors.

“After the UPA government comes to power at the Centre, the Congress will ensure Rs 400 as daily wage for the beneficiaries of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). Besides, women will be given a monthly allowance of Rs 8,500,” he said.

He had also addressed a public meeting at Salipur in Cuttack district on April 28 where he hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party and BJD saying both the parties had a strong relationship like that of a married couple. Gandhi called upon the Odisha voters to study the real face of the BJP and BJD and shun them in the forthcoming simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly elections.

He had then also accused both the BJP and BJP of looting Odisha's natural resources, including minerals like iron ore, bauxite, manganese and chromite.