Rahul vows to reopen UP’s sugar mills

BASTI/GONDA: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s road show in Basti drew crowds in huge numbers.

Gandhi began at 11.40 am on Thursday by paying a floral tribute to late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri at the historic Shastri Chowk.

The crowd followed Gandhi’s cavalcade as it moved towards Company Bagh.

People on both sides of the road jostled to shake hands with the leader, who did not disappoint them, despite objections from his security team.

He also accepted a memorandum from the people and gave a cursory glance at it before handing it over to the SPG personnel sitting next to him.

As the cavalcade reached Jawaharlal Nehru Chowk, Rahul got down from the SUV to pay a floral tribute to his great-grandfather and first Prime Minister of India, Jawahar Lal Nehru. Basti is probably the only city in the country which has the statue of Jawahar Lal Nehru riding a horse. Rahul placed a garland on the platform.

As the road show reached Subhash Chowk, also known as Kutchery crossing, Gandhi once again came out of his vehicle to pay tribute to Subhas Chandra Bose.

Local Congressmen informed Rahul about a statue of Mahatma Gandhi just a few metres away and the Congress vice-president walked down to the spot to pay respect to the father of the nation.

Meanwhile, at Gonda, Rahul Gandhi assured farmers that all closed sugar mills of the region would be restarted and all pending dues would be cleared if his party formed the next government in UP.

He also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for waiving loans worth Rs1.1 lakh crore given to industrialists. Interacting with the youths, Rahul asked: “Did you get employment as promised by Modiji? Did you get Rs 15 lakh in your bank accounts as promised by the PM?”