The Congress party will organise 'Bharat Jodo Padayatra' to celebrate the first anniversary of its Bharat Jodo Yatra (BJY), party sources said on Sunday, September 3. Sources said that the padayatra will be held across the country on September 7 between 5 pm to 6 pm.
On September 7 last year, Congress leader and Member of Parliament (MP) Rahul Gandhi began the Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumari and concluded it in Jammu and Kashmir in January this year. The Congress said the yatra was one of its most decisive mass contact programmes.
The party general secretary KC Venugopal has communicated the decision to hold the padayatras to representatives of all the states, reports Deccan Herald. The instruction came from the Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
When the Bharat Jodo Yatra ended in January, Rahul Gandhi hoisted the national flag at Lal Chowk in Srinagar and said that the promise made to India was fulfilled. "Hate will lose, love will always win," he said at the time, reiterating a message that was carried through the Yatra. "There will be a new dawn of hopes in India," he added.
Last month, the Congress party in Gujarat decided to invite Rahul Gandhi to begin the second leg of Bharat Jodo Yatra from the state, which, they said was a land associated with icons like Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel.
Two days ago, the alliance of parties including Congress that came under the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance or INDIA, passed a resolution to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha election together. The alliance, which hopes on to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), decided on a 13 member joint coordination committee. Seat sharing in different states will be done in a collaborative spirit of give-and-take, said the resolution.
(With IANS inputs)