Rahul picks Kosi flood spot for Bihar drive

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Congress youth icon and general secretary Rahul Gandhi has chosen north Bihar’s Saharsa region for his proposed September 4 visit to hold public meetings and effectively begin the party’s campaigns for the Assembly elections. Congress leaders in Bihar have pinned their hopes on Mr Gandhi’s early campaign tour.
Mr Gandhi, who is expected to address at least 20 public meetings in Bihar before the October-November elections, would address two rallies in Saharsa and Samastipur, where the Assembly constituencies of state Congress president Mehboob Ali Kaiser and Congress legislative party leader Ashok Kumar are located respectively.
The Congress leaders said there were more about the choice of these sites apart from these considerations.
Saharsa, a poor district that was badly ravaged by the 2008 Kosi floods, is a stronghold of Bihar’s ruling JD(U).
With public discontent against chief minister Nitish Kumar’s government over alleged mismanagement of relief operations still high and the CAG recently exposing fraud in transporting food grains for the affected people, Mr Gandhi is expected to hit the ruling NDA against the background of the emotive issue of floods in this chronically flood-hit area.
Besides, Mr Kumar’s recent claims that Bihar’s development during the NDA regime was achieved without Central assistance could also find strong rebuttal in Mr Gandhi’s public addresses.