Chandigarh: The visit of Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, the youth icon of the party, to Mohali to campaign for Punjab Youth Congress president Ravneet Sigh Bittu, one of his favoured few among the young brigade, has come at the right time for Bittu who is learnt to have already taken an advantageous position over his SAD-BJP rival Dr Daljeet Singh Cheema in the contest for the newly created Lok Sabha constituency of Anandpur Sahib.
Rahul is scheduled to address a largely attended rally organized by Bittu and his supporters at the Dussehra ground in Mohali, which is part of the Anandpur Sahib constituency, at 3.30 p.m. on Saturday.
In the run up to Rahul’s visit Congress working Committee member and Union minister Ambika Soni has been touring various parts of the constituency with Ravneet Singh Bittu and other senior party leaders over the past two days. She has been emphasizing that though she was a candidate for getting the party ticket from the constituency she recommended Ravneet for the seat when it was felt that the party needed more representation from the youth.
Ravneet himself has been spearheading an aggressive campaign during which he has won over the minds and hearts of all sections of the electorate including the youth, women and the elderly with his infectious smile and respectful mannerisms. The growing confidence of his supporters in his win can be gauged by the fact that with every passing day the cavalcade of his supporters during his visits into the interiors of the constituency has been growing in strength.
The massive response to his forays into the villages, where he has been attracting huge crowds, has given him confidence to claim recently that he will win by at least 1.5 lakh votes. His main rival Dr Cheema, who has been advisor to Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, is believed to be lagging far behind in his campaigning, largely depending on Badal for garnering support for himself.
Having already pushed Cheema on the back foot , Ravneet is looking to consolidate his position with Rahul Gandhi’s visit. Gandhi is known to have the ability to sway crowds, especially the youth, with his simple, honest and practical approach to issues which concern the common man.
Ravneet has already been telling the people that with Rahul Gandhi’s help he would get a university established in the name of Guru Gobind Singh in the constituency. He has also promised to bring in huge amount of government and private investment into infrastructure and other major projects to give help reduce unemployment in the area. Giving a boost to water supply and Improvement of education and health facilities will e on top of his priority list