Former party chief Rahul Gandhi arrived in the village from Delhi ahead of the march’s resumption, according to Congress Uttar Pradesh unit spokesperson Anshu Awasthi.
Shamli: The Congress’ Bharat Jodo Yatra resumed its journey around 6 a.m. on Thursday after a night’s stop at Ailum village here, with scores of people carrying the Tricolour marching through the hinterland despite the biting cold.
Former party chief Rahul Gandhi arrived in the village from Delhi ahead of the march’s resumption, according to Congress Uttar Pradesh unit spokesperson Anshu Awasthi. The march is expected to arrive in Panipat, Haryana, by Thursday evening, ending its journey in the politically important state that sends 80 representatives to the Lok Sabha.
Gandhi was accompanied by senior Congress leaders such as former Union minister Jairam Ramesh and the party’s state chief Brijlal Khabri, who were seen wearing the same white T-shirt he has worn for much of the journey. Hundreds of people carrying the Tricolour marched alongside the yatra as it passed through Shamli district.
The Bharat Jodo Yatra, which began in Kanyakumari on September 7, will conclude on January 30 with Rahul Gandhi hoisting the national flag in Srinagar.
Local leaders and activists, including Rampal Dhama, district unit chief of the Rashtriya Lok Dal, a Samajwadi Party ally, joined the yatra in Baghpat on Wednesday.
Gandhi stated during a ‘nukkad sabha’ (street corner meeting) at Baraut on the Baghpat-Shamli border that the purpose of the yatra is to remove hatred and violence from the country and to draw people’s attention to issues such as price rise and unemployment.
After a nine-day break, the yatra returned to Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday via the Loni border in Ghaziabad.
Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Delhi have so far been visited by the march.
