Raebareli visit: Rahul Gandhi hears traders’ concerns over GST, gold prices

Rahul Gandhi visited Raebareli on Tuesday and met traders, lawyers, pharmacists and other local representatives, assuring them their concerns would be prioritised. Traders raised issues including rising precious metal prices and GST. Gandhi will attend a DISHA meeting on Wednesday

Raebareli: Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Tuesday met traders, lawyers, pharmacists, and other local representatives during a visit to his parliamentary constituency of Raebareli and assured them he would prioritise their issues and work to resolve them. Rahul arrived in Raebareli for a two-day visit, met traders at Prabhu Town and later held meetings with various delegations at the Bhuemau guest house, listening to their concerns. “He met advocates, pharmacists and some traders today. They drew his attention to issues concerning them and expressed hope that relief would be provided. Rahul Gandhi assured them that their issues would be taken up on priority and efforts would be made to get them resolved,” a local Congress leader told PTI.

Gandhi also met members of the Central Bar Association, including its president Suresh Chand Yadav, general secretary Sanjay Singh and Sunil Singh Bhadauria, among others. At Prabhu Town, Gandhi held an interaction with traders at the residence of Bachchu Trivedi. Amethi MP Kishori Lal Sharma was also present during the interaction.

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Fana Trivedi, a prominent jeweller in the city, apprised Gandhi of key concerns of the jewellery trade, including the sharp rise in gold and silver prices and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) imposed on jewellery, which traders said has increased the cost of doing business. His son Tushar Trivedi, who operates a jewellery shop in the city’s Kaiperganj Sarafa Bazaar, told PTI that their issues were raised before Gandhi, who assured jewellers that their concerns would also be taken up in Parliament so that relief could be provided to the trading community and artisans associated with the sector.

Tushar said more than 50 traders from the nearly 100-year-old Kaiperganj Sarafa Bazaar attended the meeting at the Trivedi residence, along with workers engaged in the trade. Traders from other parts of the city and the region also participated in the interaction, he added. A press note on the interaction, issued by the local Congress unit, said, “Today in Raebareli’s Prabhu Town, Leader of Opposition and MP Rahul Gandhi met local traders, listened to their problems and discussed their solutions in detail.”

It said Gandhi was “committed to the interests, dignity and rights of traders”. Earlier in the evening, Gandhi’s convoy briefly stopped near Kotwa Madania, where flood-affected villagers were waiting to meet him and apprised him of their problems. His convoy also passed through Maharajganj, where Congress workers welcomed him with flowers amid drum beats. Gandhi remained inside his vehicle and waved at the gathering. The convoy subsequently reached the district headquarters.

According to a local Congress leader, Gandhi will stay overnight at the Bhuemau guest house and attend a district development coordination and monitoring committee (DISHA) meeting on Wednesday to review development works in the constituency. He is scheduled to leave for Delhi via Lucknow on Wednesday evening.