by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
It is certainly not the way that an eminent party, having gone to seed lately, should give itself a makeover. Last week, when Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi gave kick start to his four-week-long, 2,500-kilometre flamboyant travel in Uttar Pradesh, a clever strategy went for a toss in the most unexpected manner. It was the idea of strategic planner Prashant Kishore, engaged by the Congress, to focus the campaign on farmers" distress, particularly their rising indebtedness, and get Rahul to hold close meetings with villagers seated on "charpai", or wooden cots, instead of addressing the usual rallies. That was supposed to make the Gandhi scion re-emphasise his earlier charge that Prime Minster Narendra Modi"s administration is "suit boot ki sarkar". Charpais, it was thought, would set the intimate tone for Rahul"s "kisan yatra" covering 223 assembly segment across the state"s 39 districts.
