A bus, that will be used in the 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra', parked, in Thoubal district, Manipur
Credit: PTI Photo
Senapati (Manipur): People elevated Congress to power in Telangana and now a bus from the state is taking Rahul Gandhi from the eastern parts of the country to the west in his second ‘yatra’, one the party believes will set the stage for its Lok Sabha elections.
The customised bus has an elevator and a conference room to hold meetings with civil society representatives.
Rahul used the elevator that lifted him to the top of the bus with a Telangana registration from where the Congress leader on Monday addressed a public gathering at Kangpokpi and Senapati.
The conference room inside the bus can accommodate eight people and it will be where Rahul will be holding consultations with civil society. People on the road could see the meeting on the screen attached to the side of the bus.
One of the highlights is that those invited to meet Rahul are given a “bus ticket”, which has the Congress leader’s picture and signature, for the short trip.
Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said “those who want to meet and talk to Rahul Gandhi in this journey of justice against the injustice of the last 10 years, have been given such tickets and called in the bus.”
The bus also has images of Congress president Mallikarkun Kharge and former chief Sonia Gandhi and inscriptions like ‘Mohabbat ki Dukan’ (The Shop of Love), in reference to Rahul's pet theme ‘Nafrat ka bazaar mein mohabbat ka dukan’ (a shop of love in the market of hate).
In several places, a number of people were seen waiting for Rahul’s arrival in the bus. He waved at people, shook hands with many while supporters raised slogans like ‘Long Live Rahul’.
In Senapati, he said when they decided to hold a second Yatra after the “successful’ Bharat Jodo Yatra, the most powerful statement will be to start from Manipur to “make people of India get a sense of what people of Manipur had been through, the difficulties they faced and the struggles they had been through”.
The Yatra started on Sunday from near the Khongjom War Memorial in Thoubal district and headed towards Nagaland on Monday.