Rahul Gandhi flies economy class to Patna with Congress CMs in bid to project 'pro-people' image, shares photo on Instagram

In a bid to support his “pro-people” image, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday shared a photograph of himself flying economy class with newly-elected party chief ministers, all on their way to Patna to address the party’s rally in the city. The Instagram post got more than 80,000 likes in 20 hours. The photo features Rahul, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath, Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel and senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel flying ‘cattle class’. “On our way to the Congress Rally at Gandhi Maidan in Bihar, with our new CMs and party treasurer. Tough getting all these gentlemen together in a single row, but we pulled it off!” Rahul’s post read.

At Sunday’s rally, the party’s first solo campaign in Patna in around three decades, Rahul said the Congress would waive farm loans and give a big push to the food processing industry if voted to power in the Lok Sabha elections. Alleging that the Centre’s crop insurance scheme is “aimed at taking away the hard-earned money of farmers to fill up the pockets of big businessmen”, he promised that the Congress would initiate a number of steps to deal with farmers’ distress and unemployment. With the Lok Sabha elections around the corner, the Congress president has been projecting himself and his party as ‘pro-poor’. “Political analysts believe that by showing that he flies economy class, Rahul might be trying to emphasise that it is the Congress party that is standing for the poor as he repeatedly accuses Prime Minister Narendra Modi of building a coterie of rich and powerful around him. A few years ago, Rahul had referred to the Modi government as a ‘suit-boot ka sarkar.’”  News18 reported , With inputs from agencies