After four Parivartan Yatras of BJP, the Congress party will take out a Yatra in Rajasthan however it will be confined to 13 districts of south-east Rajasthan and on the issue of Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP). The Congress government in the state is demanding a national status for the project which has been pending with the central government since 2018.
Party's state president Govind Singh Dotasra gave the presentation of the proposed yatra in the recently held Congress Working Committee meeting in Hyderabad.
The Yatra will be held between 25-29th September and cover 13 districts of south-east Rajasthan from where the Canal is proposed to pass through.
Congress Aims to Capitalize on 83 Assembly Seats
The yatra is expected to give political mileage to the ruling Congress as these 13 districts have 83 assembly seats and Congress is trying to make this a core election issue for this region as the BJP is finding it difficult to counter Congress on the issue.
Of the 83 seats, Congress has its MLAs on 48, and 35 are with BJP and others. The party is expecting to maintain the lead with ERCP as the party will go door to door and take out rallies in the region to make people aware of how the BJP is delaying the national status for such an important project.
Countering Congress's Push for ERCP National Status
Congress claims that the status was promised by PM Narendra Modi in the election rallies of 2018. The BJP kept silent on the issue for four years and now the union minister for Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said that the current project report of ERCP does not fulfill the norms of national status.
ERCP is an ambitious project of over Rs 40,000 crore which will help augment irrigation facilities in an area of around 2 lakh hectares in 13 districts of Rajasthan - Jhalawar, Baran, Kota, Bundi, Sawai Madhopur, Karauli, Dhaulpur, Bharatpur, Dause, Alwar, Jaipur and Ajmer in eastern Rajasthan.
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