Rahul effect: Cong leaders visit Dalit homes in UP

Taking a cue from Rahul Gandhi,Congress MPs,MLAs and office bearers today chose Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday to visit Dalit homes across Uttar Pradesh,sharing food with them and spending a night there in an attempt to reclaim the Dalit vote bank in the key state.

Union Ministers Jitin Prasada and Sri Prakash Jaiswal,UPCC president Rita Bahuguna Joshi,CLP leader Pramod Tewari and cricketer-turned-politician Md Azharuddin travelled to Dalit-dominated villages in their respective constituencies and discussed their problems.

While Joshi visited at Hardiya village on Mirzapur-Allahabad border,Tewari went to a village in Pratpgarh district and MP Azharuddin was in Moradabad.

Prasada,who was at a village in his Shahjahanpur constituency,said “Rahul Gandhi has set an example and so Congress had planned this programme on Gandhi Jayanti for us to go to villages and connect with backward classes,especially Dalits who have become distanced from Congress.

“Life is very difficult in these villages”,he added.