Lucknow, Feb 15 (IANS): Political parties in Uttar Pradesh are busy working to strengthen their base through the ongoing farmers' agitation for the withdrawal of the three farm laws.
After holding a 'Kisan Panchayat' in Saharanpur, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is aiming to boost her party by holding a Panchayat meeting in Bijnor district on Monday.
Priyanka Gandhi wrote on Facebook, saying, "Only dialogue with the farmers, who have fed this country for 75 years, will lead the country towards progress. Farm-related policies will be created by the farmers themselves. Today in the 'Kisan Panchayat' in Uttar Pradesh's Bijnor district, I will be present among the farmer sisters and brothers."
Bijnor Congress District President Sherbaz Pathan said that Priyanka Gandhi would reach Chandpur on Monday. She would address the 'Kisan Panchayat' at the Ramlila Maidan where she along with other Congress leaders would spread awareness among farmers against the contentious farm laws. Party officials, workers and farmers are being approached to join the 'panchayat'.
Earlier, on February 10, Priyanka Gandhi had addressed the 'Kisan Mahapanchayat' at Chilkana in Saharanpur.
Huge crowds gathered at the 'mahapanchayats' held by the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). After Mathura and Baraut, crowds thronging the RLD panchayats in Shamli are making other political parties restless. Although, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) are silent but the Congress is desperate to seek political mileage from the farmers' agitation.
The regions in Uttar Pradesh with lesser influence of the RLD are targeted by the Congress to influence the farmers. At the same time, a strategy has also been formed to prevent the RLD denting its political fortunes in old Congress strongholds, so the party has started its Mahapanchayat from the stronghold in Saharanpur.
Ahead of the 2022 UP Assembly election, the Congress is trying to woo voters by effectively making its presence felt on the ground from Saharanpur to other nearby western UP districts and prepare its vote bank using the farmers' agitation.