Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra will not go as planned through Uttar Pradesh; party sources say the march will probably end at least one week early. This week, the yatra was supposed to arrive in Uttar Pradesh, a politically significant state with 80 Lok Sabha seats where the Congress has not fared well in the previous two Lok Sabha elections. There, the yatra was supposed to stay for 11 days.
28 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh were to be travelled through by the yatra, including Varanasi, the seat of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rae Bareli, Amethi, Allahabad, Phulpur, and Lucknow. The original route passed through places like Rae Bareli, Chandauli, Varanasi, Jaunpur, Allahabad, Bhadohi, Pratapgarh, Amethi, Lucknow, Hardoi, Sitapur, Bareilly, Moradabad, Rampur, Sambal, Amroha, Aligarh, Badaun, Bulandshahr, and Agra.
Reasons for cutting short the Baharat Jodo Nyay Yatra
From Lucknow, the yatra would now travel directly to Aligarh and then to Agra, both in west UP, before entering Madhya Pradesh, according to sources, bypassing most of the districts in western UP. Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), a significant political party in west Uttar Pradesh and a partner of the Congress in the INDIA bloc, is joining hands with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Congress, however, reports that the UP board exams will begin on February 22 and that the number of travel days has been lowered considering the student’s interests. Shahjahanpur, Bareilly, Rampur, Moradabad, Sambhal, Amroha, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, and Hathras will no longer be included in Rahul Gandhi’s yatra. The yatra was supposed to end on February 26, but it will now take place in Uttar Pradesh from February 16 to February 21.
The decision to shorten the yatra in Uttar Pradesh, according to sources in Congress, has nothing to do with the political developments involving the RLD. “We wanted to slow down the yatra to ensure that Rahul Gandhi gets time for interactions with groups on the way,” a party leader said.
According to sources, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the general secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), who has not yet joined the yatra despite it lasting a month on February 14th, may show up when the yatra enters Uttar Pradesh.
With inputs from Mint