Mangaluru: More Congress leaders, including K.C. Venugopal, party in-charge for Karnataka, will arrive here on Monday to promote the party’s Mane Manege Congress programme. The Congress has begun its house connect programme in the city to counter the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Vistarak programme launched sometime ago to face the next year’s Assembly election.

Addressing presspersons here on Friday, B. Ramanath Rai, Minister in-charge of Dakshina Kannada, said that G. Parameshwara, president, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), Dinesh Gundu Rao, working president of KPCC, and Energy Minister D.K. Shivakumar are among those who would participate in the house connect programme at Akash Bhavan here and at Deralakatte.

The leaders would hold meetings with office-bearers of the District Congress Committee (DCC) and party MLAs and MLCs. They would hold a meeting of party workers at Lions Seva Mandir at Mallikatta.

Mr. Rai said that the party would take out a padayatra from Sullia to Madikeri on November 8 at 9 a.m. as part of the nationwide black day to be observed by the party against the Union government. A public meeting would be held at Sampaje en route Madikeri on that day at 3 p.m.. In addition, the party would hold a protest in front of its office at Mallikatta at about 10 a.m. He said that the Union government has failed to keep its promises mainly to provide employment. Demonetisation hit the economy of the country. It has not brought any change. The Union government did not bring back black money stashed in foreign countries as announced by it earlier.

Mr. Rai alleged that the Union government hiking prices of cooking gas, petrol and implementing GST has hit the common man hard. The Union government has failed in administration, he said.