Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi traversed 3438 kilometres as part of his Kisan Yatra in Uttar Pradesh, which is now drawing to a close after having gone on for a total of 26 days.
The yatra, which focused on the issues of the farmers such as loan waiver and inadequate MSP, was planned as a major outreach programme in the run up to the Assembly elections in the state. It went across Uttar Pradesh, from Deoria in the eastern part of the state to its western districts that lie in the National Capital Region.
It would culminate in Delhi on Thursday with a grand show of strength as party workers would gather in large numbers to welcome Rahul.
As part of the yatra, Rahul covered 48 districts and 57 parliamentary constituencies. As many as 26 Khat Sabhas, or meetings on cots, were organised during the yatra. There were also some embarrassing moments for the Congress as at some of the Khat Sabhas, the local residents carried the cots away with them after the meeting.
Rahul took part in 26 road shows and there were more than 700 major meeting points in the yatra. An important part of the yatra was collecting Mang Patras or demand letters from farmers, seeking waiver of their farm loans from the government, and party workers collected as many as 75 lakh Mang Patras.
The yatra saw Rahul attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government at the Centre on a daily basis, as he sought to project the PM as someone who cares only for the industrialists and is not sensitive to the needs and problems of the farmers.
