Taking Cots Is Stealing? What About Vijay Mallya, Asks Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi labored today to convert an uh-oh moment into a point of attack. "When farmers leave with cots, they are called chors (thieves). When an industrialist escapes with 9,000 crores, he's called a defaulter," he said in Uttar Pradesh, referring to liquor baron Vijay Mallya who has refused to return to India to face banks to whom his defunct Kingfisher Airlines owes big money.

Yesterday, Mr Gandhi launched a 2,500-km tour of Uttar Pradesh, during which he will cover more than half of the 403 constituencies of Uttar Pradesh, which will vote early next year. Mr Gandhi's debut meeting with farmers was designed as an informal meeting on khats or cots. They turned into the scene-stealers, with farmers scurrying away carrying them on their shoulders in Deoria in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, minutes after Mr Gandhi left the large public ground.

The cots had been rented for the event at between Rs 700 to Rs 1,000 each.
 
Mr Gandhi's campaign in Uttar Pradesh has been designed by election strategist Prashant Kishor, who worked with the PM on his 2014 campaign before splitting with the BJP to crossover to Nitish Kumar for last year's election in Bihar. He is now on a sort of loan-out from the Bihar government for the Congress' bids for Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

For 27 years, Uttar Pradesh has not picked the Congress to govern it. In the general election two years ago, Mr Gandhi and his mother, Sonia, were the only Congress MPs to be re-elected from India's most populous state.

Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party is seeking re-election as Chief Minister. The BJP has yet to announce its presumptive Chief Minister. Mayawati, Dalit leader and head of the Bahujan Samaj Party, is asking for a fifth term as Chief Minister.