Mahapanchayats, exhibits & save MGNREGA stir: Congress’ 100-day action plan before UP Assembly polls

Congress announces Samvidhan samvad mahapanchayats and protests in Uttar Pradesh as part of 100 day action plan ahead of assembly elections. (PTI/File)

In the run-up to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections early next year, the Congress’ state unit has announced to hold ‘Samvidhan samvad mahapanchayats’ (Constitution dialogue mahapanchayats), seminars and photo exhibitions highlighting the party’s 140-year history and ‘save MGNREGA’ protests as part of its 100-day action plan.

While 30 ‘Samvidhan samvad mahapanchayts’ have been planned starting January 24 from Sitapur, seminars and photo exhibitions and save MGNREGA agitations will be held in all divisions. Also on cards are preparations to contest the panchayat polls “independently” and the elections for 11 MLC seats that fall vacant in November and engaging party workers actively in the second phase of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, it is learnt.

Congress Legislature Party leader Aradhana Mishra, who released the action plan in Lucknow on the occasion of the birthday of party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi, said, “In the next 100 days, the Congress will expose before the public the failures of the Yogi Adityanath government through ‘Samvidhan samvad mahapanchayts’. While we will hold the first mahapanchayat in Sitapur district on January 24, similar large gatherings will be held in Lucknow, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Saharanpur, Pratapgarh and other places.”

The plan was simultaneously released in 20 locations by senior party leaders.

“Second is the ‘Save MNREGA campaign. The Congress-led UPA government implemented the historic MGNREGA in 2006. This was a scheme that guaranteed the right to employment and provided jobs to a large number of rural poor. The Congress is committed to launching a mass movement to compel the government to restore the MNREGA scheme. We are committed to the rights of labourers and the rights of the Gram Sabha, and pledges that the minimum wage for MGNREGA workers will be Rs 400,” said Mishra.

For the third action plan, she said, the party has constituted a monitoring committee of MPs, MLAs and former MPs and MLAs to oversee the SIR work across the state.

“Through this committee, the names of legitimate voters whose names have been deleted, left out will be included in the voter list by filling Form-6. The fourth plan includes preparations for panchayat elections,” she added.

Also, to highlight the party’s “140 years of Service and Sacrifice”, it has been decided to organise programmes primarily including photo exhibitions and seminars in all divisional headquarters and major cities and may extend till December 28, she said. The seminars and exhibitions will also showcase important Congress sessions held over the past 140 years.

The districts where these seminars and exhibitions will be held include Agra, Aligarh, Moradabad, Bareilly, Saharanpur, Meerut, Kanpur, Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Allahabad, Azamgarh, Chitrakoot, Jhansi, Basti, Ayodhya, Ghaziabad, and Muzaffarnagar.

The party will contest with full strength the elections for 11 seats of the Legislative Council, scheduled in November, Mishra said.

“According to the Election Commission the Congress appointed nearly 100,000 booth level agents (BLAs) during the SIR in the state. It is a proof of our organisation’s strength at the grassroots level and our unwavering commitment to democracy,” she claimed.