Rahul Gandhi holds 100-km road show from Raje’s home turf Jhalawar to Kota

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday led a 100-km road show from Jhalawar, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s home turf, to Kota in Rajasthan. Along the way he criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Raje over farm distress, the Rafale deal and the upheaval in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

On the road

Gandhi set off from Jhalawar at about 3.25 pm on a bus at the head of a convoy of party workers, travelling along National Highway No. 52. Sachin Pilot, who heads the state Congress, rode with him along with Ashok Gehlot, CP Joshi and other senior leaders. His first halt was Kheemach village near Jhalawar. Workers welcomed him at more than a dozen points, and he got off the bus at about half a dozen of them to accept garlands.

Attack on Modi and Raje

At a meeting in the Mandana area of Kota’s Ladpura assembly constituency, organised by party leader Naimuddin Guddu, Gandhi alleged that the Prime Minister had removed the CBI director the previous night because he feared a probe into the Rafale deal. “The 56-inch chowkidar got intimidated,” Gandhi said.

He accused the BJP and the state government of neglecting farmers and of allegedly placing Rs 3.5 lakh crore in the hands of 15 big corporate houses. He also charged the Raje government with failing to secure a fair price for garlic growers in the Hadoti region, which he linked to suicides by farmers. A farmer who could not repay a loan was called a defaulter, he said, while banks lined up to lend more to large companies that defaulted.

Rajasthan votes on December 7, and its results will be declared on December 11 along with those of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram.

What happened next

Congress won 99 of the 199 seats that voted on 7 December 2018, against 73 for the BJP, and Ashok Gehlot became Chief Minister.

See also: Political leaders

Originally published on 25 October 2018. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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