Rahul Gandhi to kick off Congress poll campaign in Madhya Pradesh today

BHOPAL: The stage is set for Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s roadshow and interaction with party workers in the capital of Assembly poll-bound Madhya Pradesh on Monday.

Adding an interesting tinge to the publicity efforts of the Opposition party for the success of Monday’s programme in Bhopal are large hoardings addressing Gandhi as a ‘Shiv bhakt.’

It is not just the hoardings, erected by local party leader Girish Sharma, which describe Gandhi as a Shiv bhakt (devotee of Lord Shiva), with a picture of Kailash Mansarovar in the backdrop.

One of the publicity vans moved across the city on the eve of Gandhi’s visit, with a voice on a loudspeaker repeatedly blaring about Shiv bhakt Rahul Gandhi’s recent Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage and hailing his visit as auspicious as it fell between the Hindu festivals of



Ganesh Utsav and Vishwakarma Puja, reflective of opposition party’s soft Hindutva plank in the state where the BJP is in power since more than 14 years.

Mocking the Congress hoardings, state BJP spokesperson Rajnish Agrawal said, “Let the Congress leader (Gandhi) do whatever he wants, put tilak, wear topi or janeyu, but his party stands exposed before the commoners, who are not going to be hoodwinked by the Congress at all.”

Reacting to BJP’s jibe against Gandhi, state Congress spokesperson Shoba Oza said, “We’re welcoming our young leader in the state capital, for which we neither need BJP’s certification nor their advice.”

Gandhi, who will arrive in the MP capital at 12.45 pm on Monday will embark on the roadshow in a secured bus from the Lalghati Circle 25 minutes later.