Bharat Jodo Yatra: Rahul Gandhi has attacked the BJP multiple times during his interactions over the last three months.
The Congress is celebrating 100 days of its mass contact programme – the Bharat Jodo Yatra – which has been led by Rahul Gandhi since its start in September. During the foot march, the party has covered seven states so far, and is now in Rajasthan. Days after he took oath as the Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Friday – along with other newly-elected MLAs of the grand old party – joined Gandhi. The Himachal win has been no less than a shot in the arm for the grand old party.
In a tweet, the grand old party shared a photograph showing Sukhu, along with his deputy Mukesh Agnihotri, and state unit chief Pratibha Virbhadra Singh walking along with Rahul Gandhi . “If we walk together, victory is certain. Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu, Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee President Pratibha Virbhadra Singh and all Congress MLAs participated in Bharat Jodo Yatra today”.
The show of unity comes days after speculation was rife on internal rifts with names of Pratibha Singh – wife of former Himachal CM Virbhadra Singh, who died last year – and Mukesh Agnihotri doing rounds for the top post. Sukhu’s name was confirmed last week. He has asserted that Vikramaditya Singh, Pratibha’s son, will be accommodated in the cabinet.
“Congress won in Himachal Pradesh so all our 40 MLAs will participate in the (Bharat Jodo) yatra tomorrow, and thank the Congress leadership for having faith in us,” Sukhu was quoted as saying by news agency ANI after arriving in Jaipur on Thursday night. He was photographed with Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge upon his arrival.
In the three months of the foot march, Rahul Gandhi has covered Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh among other states. The Kanyakumari-to-Kashmir Yatra was launched with an aim to revive the grand old party’s connect with masses after back-to-back defeats in elections since 2014.
This week, former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan also joined the foot march in Rajasthan. He also held a discussion with Rahul Gandhi on the national economy and shared observations and predictions about the next year. Stand-up comic Kunal Kamra also tweeted about his participation on Wednesday.
“After spending a week with the Bharat Jodo Yatra I think people shying away from walking the yatra & trying to be neutral. It’s not neutrality that’s keeping you on the fence; it’s fear. Standing up against power is also democratic, like it use to be before 2014,” he wrote in a tweet.
Actors Pooja Bhatt, Swara Bhaskar and Riya Sen have been among others who have marched with Rahul Gandhi.(news credit : india news)
