Mumbai: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday began his 15-kilometre day-long padyatra in Amravati district of Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region.
Rahul, who reached Nagpur on Wednesday night began his 15-kilometre day-long padyatra – dubbed sanvad padyatra – from Gunji village. After Gunji, he will visit Dhamangaon Railway Tehsil, Rajana Village and Tonglabad Village.
Rahul had also raised the issue of farmers’ distress in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday while taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign trips.
“The Prime Minister who is now on an India tour, should go to Punjab, should visit the Mandis and see ground situation,” he said on Wednesday.
Sharpening his attack on the government, Rahul said, “The farmers of Vidarbha are suffering, that’s why I am here. The Modi government only worries about corporates and ignores plight of farmers.”
Rahul will be visiting five villages between Gunji to Ramgaon and will meet the farmers who have suffered crop losses due to unseasonal rain. He is accompanied by MPCC president Ashok Chavan and senior state Congress leaders.
Ahead of his visit, a farmer, Gajanan Sheshrao Khongal, allegedly committed suicide by jumping into a well in Morshi tehsil of the district on Tuesday.
Maharashtra is one of the states that experienced severe agrarian crisis and Amravati division in Vidarbha region has witnessed many suicide cases of farmers this year.