Is Rahul Gandhi targeting Dalit, EBC community in Bihar? Congress leader embarks on his third visit to state

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has embarked on another Bihar tour, his third since January which will see him join the ongoing 'Palayan Roko, Naukri Do' padyatra of the Congress in Begusarai district. 

 

As he accompanies party leaders like Kanhaiya Kumar and state party president Rajesh Kumar, Rahul is aiming to revive the party, with a focus on youth ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections. 

 

While the party focuses on strengthening its grassroots engagement, the top leadership wants the focus on marginalised communities, including Muslims, the focus will specifically on Extremely Backward Classes (EBC) that make up 36% of the state's population and are a crucial voting bloc. 

 

The party had already taken steps to communicate with EBCs and the Dalits by replacing the party top leaders. It had recently appointed Rajesh Kumar, a Dalit, as the state president, replacing Akhilesh Prasad Singh, an upper-caste Bhumihar. The party has also increased the number of Dalits and backward class leaders while the share of upper castes has been halved.

 

Though the party's stance is that it wants to ensure representation for every caste, the focus is clearly on EBCs and Dalits, as evident from the prominence given to Kanhaiya Kumar. 

 

Meanwhile, Congress is also said to be focusing on coming out of RJD's shadows, as evident from its reluctance to declare the chief minister face of the Mahagadbandhan. There were speculations that Rahul would announce Tejaswi Yadav's name for the role. 

 

Meanwhile, Congress's Bihar in-charge Krishna Allavaru visited RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav before Rahul's visit, for the first time. He is said to have discussed the allocation of seats to INDIA bloc partners in the Bihar assembly elections.

India