Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Oct 3: Rahul Gandhi arrives in Kashmir Valley tomorrow on a two-day visit bringing along a strong business delegation including Ratan Tata and Kumar Manglam Birla to a State seeking more investments.
The AICC general secretary is also due to have a meeting with Panchayat members in the Valley on Friday against the backdrop of his call for increasing security of Panchs and Sarpanchs following threats from militants. A Sarpanch delegation from the Valley had met Rahul in Delhi last week.
The business delegation is arriving at the invitation of Rahul for an interaction with students of Kashmir university in Srinagar on October five, official sources said today.
For the first time, a business dimension has been lent to Rahul’s visit during which he is expected to allay corporate concerns about investing in the border State.
Besides the Chairman of the Tata group and the Aditya Birla group, HDFC chairman Deepak Parikh, Managing Director of Bajaj Auto Rajeev Bajaj and Chairman and Managing Director of WIPRO Aziz Premji will be present during Rahul’s visit.
Chief Ministers Sheila Dikshit (Delhi) and Tarun Gogoi (Assam) are also likely to be present at the interaction, officials said.
Rahul begins his tour tomorrow from Ladakh region by holding public rallies in Leh and Kargil town.
Before reaching the Valley, Gandhi will be attending the foundation stone laying ceremony by Union Minister C P Joshi of Z-Morh Tunnel, which is aimed at providing all-weather connectivity with Ladakh.
The tunnel will be 6.5 km long, with two lanes with a parallel escape tunnel on a new alignment between Gagangir and Sonamarg and the ministry has chosen Border Road Organisation (BRO) to complete this project.
The project will be constructed on Build Own Transfer-BOT mode at an estimated cost of about Rs 2,680 crore on the basis of approved guidelines for such projects.
Later tomorrow, the Congress leader will be attending a meeting of the elected State and district committees of Jammu and Kashmir NSUI, students wing of Congress after which he will address the National Executive of the Indian Youth Congress.
Meanwhile, on the second day of four day national executive meeting of Indian Youth Congress, Union Minister for Surface and Road Transport, C P Joshi and Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) President, Professor Saif-ud-din Soz interacted with the Youth Congress leaders drawn from different parts of the country.
The Union Minister for Surface and Road Transport urged the Youth Congress leaders to be in constant touch with the people so that some relief is provided to them. He asked the party functionaries to strengthen the party at the grassroot level so that the party attained its position of being the leading national political party of the country.
“There are committees at the State level, district level and booth level. It is important that these committees function to the fullest possible level so that the party comes up to the expectations of the common masses. This would be a service to the nation and for this all the young ones have to chip in with their own bit,” said the Union Minister.
In his interaction, Prof Soz dwelt upon the political situation in the State and gave a resume of the activities being carried out by PCC to bring in more people under the fold of Congress. He also referred to the initiatives being taken by the central Congress leadership for bringing about peace and tranquility in the State.
He said that Congress is the only party that can come up to the expectations of the people living in all the three regions of the State. He impressed upon the Young Congress leaders to devote themselves for the service to the masses adding that poor people have too many expectations from the politicians.
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel