Rahul Gandhi stresses on women empowerment

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi today stressed on women empowerment during his second leg of election campaign in the Northeast. "We should take lessons on how to treat women from the society in Meghalaya where life is women centric," Rahul said while addressing an election rally here.

At the rally, women from in and around the North Garo Hills listened to the youngest of the Gandhi scions who narrated how the family of the grandson of Meghalaya's first chief minister Capt W A Sangma and his grandmother shared a cordial relation since 1972. The Congress nominated Daryl W Momin as the party candidate to fight against former Lok Sabha Speaker and NPP president P A Sangma from the Tura seat, which the latter and his family had held for over three decades.

Asserting that he and his family were compassionate for the Northeast and its people, Rahul said, "I went to the protest over the killing of Nido Tania and what happened was a very sad thing." "Our party stands for unity among the whole country and that is the idea we stand for. We condemned the incident. The opposition, however, does not agree with our views," he said. 

Hitting out at BJP, he said the opposition likes to divide the people.

Emphasising on improving connectivity, Rahul highlighted the Congress' ambitious plan to connect land-locked Meghalaya through road, rail and air links with the rest of the country. 

Underlying the policies of the UPA, Rahul said, "14 crore people have derived benefits from the UPA's NREGA and Right to Food Act. We will transform the lives of 70 crore people to ensure they live a proper life of the middle class." Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, social welfare minister Deborah C Marak, former chief minister Salseng Marak and a host of other Congress leaders were present at the rally, besides Luizinho Faleirio.

With elections in about 20 days, there is a lot at stake in the battle for the Tura seat. P A Sangma is making a comeback in national politics by contesting the seat, which was held by his daughter Agatha Sangma for two terms.

Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi had to travel by road to Shillong from the North Garo Hills due to poor visibility, which forced his chopper to land at the Guwahati airport. He arrived later this evening to address party workers at the convention hall before leaving for Manipur tomorrow.