Rajasthan Cong plans yatras to demand national project status for ERCP

The Congress will take out yatras in 13 districts of Rajasthan, which will benefit from the East Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP), to urge the central government to grant it national project status.

Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not fulfilled the promise of declaring the ERCP as a national project. "Modi ji has not given anything till date," he said, adding that the five-day yatras will feature street meetings and rallies.

The Congress leader also said the party will lay the foundation stone for its new state headquarters, for which time has been sought from Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi.

The Rajasthan government has been demanding a national project status for the ERCP.

The districts that will benefit from the project are Jhalawar, Baran, Kota, Bundi, Sawai Madhopur, Ajmer, Tonk, Jaipur, Dausa, Karauli, Alwar, Bharatpur and Dholpur.

On the prime minister's proposed public meeting in Jaipur on 25 September, Dotasra said, "Five-six meetings were held which were flops, be it in Sikar or Ajmer. People are coming to our meetings while their factionalism is getting exposed in their meetings. They are not in harmony with each other.

"The public has understood the reality that the central government is a government of rhetoric whereas the government of Rajasthan works for the people. People say that the Congress government will be repeated."