In MP, ‘Khat sabhas’ a common form of electioneering for netas

Indore, Sept 6 (PTI) Organising ‘khat sabhas’ (charpoymeetings) has been a common form of electioneering intribal-dominated districts of Jhabua and Alirajpur in MadhyaPradesh, long before they became a part of strategy forexpanding Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s connect withvoters in Uttar Pradesh. The ‘khat sabhas’ fetched handsome dividend in theform of a huge victory for Congress in Ratlam-Jhabua Lok Sabhaby-election held last November. In Madhya Pradesh, the tribals call such meetings as’khatla sabhas’. Holding of ‘khatla sabhas’ was believed to be themajor reason behind former Union minister Kantilal Bhuria’svictory over his nearest BJP rival Nirmala Bhuria. He haddefeated Nirmala by a margin of 88,832 votes. The ex-minister had held a string of such charpoymeetings in run-up to the bypoll. "Of course, the cot meetings have played an importantrole in the victory of my father," admitted Bhuria’s sonVikrant while speaking to PTI today. The ‘khaat sabha’ is believed to be the brainchild ofCongress’ election strategist Prashant Kishor where RahulGandhi would interact with the farmers in the run up to the UPAssembly polls, due next year. PTI HWP LAL NSKRGJMF