Back in the saddle, Rahul to meet farmers on Saturday

A day before holding the Congress's "Kisan Khet Mazdoor" rally in the national capital, party vice president Rahul Gandhi will meet multiple delegations of farmers on Saturday, a party leader said here on Friday.

Rahul Gandhi, who returned from a 56-day sabbatical on Thursday, is scheduled to meet about half a dozen groups of farmers from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh at 10 a.m. at his residence," Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala told IANS.

He said the meetings, originally scheduled for Friday, were "deferred" because "we wanted to give enough travel time" to farmers coming from far and wide for the farmers rally to be held at the city's Ramlila Ground on Sunday.

Only Rahul Gandhi and party president Sonia Gandhi will address the farmers at the rally.

Seeking to protest against the Narendra Modi-government's "anti-farmer and anti-poor" policies, the rally is being organised at a "mammoth" scale that would witness "a sea of humanity", the spokesperson said.

"We will protest against the draconian land acquisition ordinance 2015 and raise voice for the stress caused to farmers by the damage of 200 lakh hectare of land on account of unseasonal rains.

"The Congress would also impress upon the slump in the food production and the consequent recovery for the farmer per hectare," he said.

On his first day at work after his return from a 'leave of absence' since February 23, the Congress vice-president took stock of things and set his office back in order, the party spokesperson added.