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BENGALURU: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who is on a visit to Karnataka for campaigning for his party, held a candid interaction with gig workers and delivery partners of app-based delivery services in Bengaluru on Sunday.
The former Lok Sabha MP held the conversation with delivery workers at a hotel in Bengaluru.
Over a cup of coffee and masala dosa, they discussed the lives of delivery workers, the lack of stable employment and the rising prices of basic commodities.
According to Congress, Rahul keenly listened to why these youngsters had taken up gig jobs and what their working conditions were like.
Rahul Gandhi later hopped onto the pillion seat on a scooter, chatting with a delivery partner.
Congress said Bengaluru alone has over 2,00,000 people doing gig jobs.
The Congress in its manifesto for Karnataka elections has made specific promises including setting up a Gig Workers’ Welfare Board with a corpus of Rs 3,000 crore and ensuring minimum hourly wages for gig workers and other workers in the unorganised sector.
Karnataka is crucial for Congress as it can mark its revival for the 2024 Lok Sabha election. If BJP is defeated in Karnataka, the party will not be in power in any southern state.
With Rahul Gandhi having been disqualified from Lok Sabha following his conviction in a criminal defamation case and the election debacles Congress faced in 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Congress is pinning strong hopes on Karnataka where it has strong state leadership.
The party feels that a win in Karnataka will give it a massive boost to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi before the 2024 general elections and emerge as a fulcrum of opposition unity.
Rahul Gandhi has so far held 17 rallies and roadshows in Karnataka, while his sister Priyanka Gandhi has done 19 rallies. Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who has not campaigned in any state election in the recent past, on Sunday began campaigning for the party ahead of the Karnataka assembly elections.
Karnataka will go to Assembly polls on May 10 and the counting of votes will take place on May 13.
