Cong’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ enters Maharashtra; Rahul to address rallies on Nov 10 & 18

DEGLUR, (PTI): Two months after its launch, the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday night entered Maharashtra, where he will address two rallies as part of the cross-country march aimed at reviving the party.

The 3,570-km-long yatra, a mass outreach initiative which began on September 7 from Kanniyakumari (Tamil Nadu), reached Deglur in central Maharashtra’s Nanded district from neighbouring Telangana on the 61st day of its launch.

Top Maharashtra Congress leaders, including the party’s state unit chief Nana Patole, and former minister Balasaheb Thorat welcomed the yatra.

Gandhi will address two rallies during his yatra in Maharashtra – the first on November 10 in Nanded district and the second one on November 18 at Shegaon in Buldhana district, as per the schedule shared by the Congress.

The march led by the Wayanad Lok Sabha MP will traverse through 15 Assembly and 6 parliamentary constituencies in the state, where the Congress was part of the ruling coalition till June this year, during its 14-day sojourn. It will cover a distance of 382 kms across five districts before entering Madhya Pradesh on November 20.

The party’s state unit welcomed yatra participants at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue at Kalamandir in Deglur. The yatra will proceed through Nanded district for four days and enter Hingoli district on November 11, Washim on November 15, Akola on November 16 and Buldhana on November 18, according to the schedule.

The Congress has invited Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, both allies of the party, to take part in the foot-march. Pawar had earlier said he would join the yatra.

However, senior Congress leader Ashok Chavan has said the participation of Pawar in the yatra’ in Maharashtra will depend on his health condition.

Pawar (81) was recently hospitalised in Mumbai for fever and other health issues. The NCP chief on Saturday flew to Shirdi from Mumbai with doctors and addressed a party convention briefly in the temple town in Ahmednagar district.

Talking to reporters in Nanded on Sunday evening, former chief minister Chavan said, ”There seems to be a change in Sharad Pawar’s programmes. I have come to know that he may join the yatra on November 10, but it will depend on his health condition.” Earlier in the day, Sachin Ahir, a legislator of the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena, said former minister Aaditya Thackeray may join the Maharashtra leg of the 150-day-long yatra, which will finally culminate in Srinagar.

The state Congress leadership wants to highlight the participation of the NCP and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction in the yatra as a show of unity among the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) constituents against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is part of the Eknath Shinde-led government in Maharashtra.

Commenting on the yatra, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who holds the home portfolio, said necessary measures have been taken for the march in Maharashtra, but at the same time took potshots at the Congress over the programme.

“We have taken all the necessary steps for smooth passage through Maharashtra. It is not a Bharat Jodo Yatra, but Modi Hatao yatra and they will never succeed in their goal,” said the BJP leader. (PTI)