'Narmada bhakt' Rahul Gandhi begins roadshow in MP's Jabalpur

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi Saturday started his 8-kilometre road show in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur district after paying obeisance to the Narmada River, with hundreds of posters dotting the route terming him a "Narmada bhakt".

The Narmada River is revered by the people of the state and thousands of them carry out its "parikrama" (circumambulation) as a holy ritual. Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh had earlier carried out such a parikrama by foot a few months ago.

Gandhi Saturday kicked off his roadshow by flying from Dumna Airport here to Uma Ghat (named after Union Minister Uma Bharti) on the banks of the Narmada and performed "aarti" amid chants of "Jai Narmade" by party functionaries.

Gandhi, after performing puja and handing over a gift to a young girl seated on a stage, began his roadshow from Abdul Hamid Chowk.

A party functionary was seen handing over a yellow envelope to the young girl as well.

The route of the roadshow covers areas in three Assembly constituencies, namely Jabalpur West, Jabalpur North Central and Jabalpur East (SC) seats.

While two of these seats are held by the BJP, the third has a Congress MLA.

His roadshow will end with an address at Raddi Chowk, a Muslim dominated area of Jabalpur.

Gandhi, during his campaign in poll-bound MP, has earlier been dubbed "Shiv bhakt", following his return from the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage, and "Ram bhakt" after visiting Satna and Rewa districts of the state.

Pursuing what observers believe is a "soft" of Hindutva, the Congress last month announced that it would build gaushalas in every district of the state if it attained power.

Besides, state Congress chief Kamal Nath has promised that, if voted to power, the Congress government would develop "Ram Gaman Path" in Satna district where Rama is believed to have wandered while on a 14-year exile.

Madhya Pradesh goes to polls on November 28 while votes will be counted on December 11.