NEW DELHI β Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi began his 15 km padyatra in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra on Thursday, where he is slated to meet the families of farmers who committed suicide after their crops failed.
Gandhi reached Nagpur on Wednesday night and left early Thursday morning for Gunj village, approximately 50 km from Amravati, to begin the foot march.
He was greeted by people who had lined up on either side of the road on his way to Gunj village. Gandhi spoke to some of them and tried to understand their problems.
Gandhi is now slated to visit five villages and meet the farmers who've suffered crop losses due to unseasonal rain. He is accompanied by Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Ashok Chavan, said a party official.
Maharashtra is one of the states that experienced severe agrarian crisis and Amravati division of the Vidarbha region has witnessed many farmer suicides this year.
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