Rahul Gandhi to join Congress’s padayatra in Bihar’s Begusarai

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will address a public rally in Bihar’s Begusarai on Monday, party state president Rajesh Kumar said.

Assembly elections are due in Bihar later this year and the Congress-RJD-Left alliance is keen on wresting power from the BJP-JD(U) bloc.

Kumar said Gandhi will reach Patna in the morning and travel to Begusarai for the state-wide 'pada-yatra' on "palayan roko naukri do" (put an end to migration, give jobs).

Earlier, Gandhi shared a video on X, urging the youth of Bihar to join him in the march wearing "white T-shirts".

"Our aim is to draw the attention of the world to the plight of Bihar's youth, who find government jobs getting scarce day by day and privatisation bringing no benefits. Let us bring the government in the state under pressure and change it," said the Raebareli MP.

Begusarai is the native district of Kanhaiya Kumar who the Congress party is grooming as a future leader in the state. Kanhaiya is the star face of the padayatra which began from East Champaran district last month.

In Patna, Gandhi will address two events—a Save the Constitution symposium and addressing of party workers at Sadaqat Ashram.

This is Gandhi's third Bihar tour since January, when he had urged party workers to "inflict an ideological defeat" on the BJP in the assembly polls.

In the 2020 assembly elections, the Congress won 19 of the 70 seats it had contested. The party wants to improve its tally to strengthen its position in the alliance though the party is likely to support RJD’s Tejaswi Yadav as the CM candidate.