Rahul Gandhi meets farmers against landbill in kisan rally

New Delhi: Making his first public appearance after a nearly two-month long sabbatical, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday met with farmer groups at his residence in New Delhi.
The meeting has been called to chalk out party's strategy against land acquisition bill before Parliament resumes next week. This meeting comes a day before the Congress rally on Sunday organised to galvanise protests.Rahul accompanied by senior party leaders including Jairam Ramesh and Digvijay Singh met members of various farmer organisations from states like UP, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh.

The delegation includes farmers from Bhatta Parsaul village from where Rahul had launched a 'padyatra' in 2011 against forcible land acquisition of farmers, a protest that had culminated in passage of Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.

"Tomorrow's rally would be a historic rally. Lakhs of farmers from across the country will get together in Delhi and we want to expose this BJP government for the way farmers have been duped only to pay back favours of some people. The BJP is 'conspiring' to take over the land of small farmers,"