Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra to enter Ghaziabad’s Loni on January 3: Congress leaders

Salman Khurshid said the route of Rahul Gandhi’s yatra was originally not through Uttar Pradesh, but it was on the insistence of party workers that the plan was changed to allow the yatra to pass through the state

Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid said on Tuesday that party leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra will enter Ghaziabad’s Loni in Uttar Pradesh from New Delhi on January 3 and will proceed to Baghpat on its way to Jammu and Kashmir, where it will culminate.

Former union minister Salman Khurshid at a press conference in Loni in Ghaziabad on Tuesday. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

Khurshid and party leader Nasimuddin Siddiqui were in Ghaziabad on Tuesday and detailed the preparations for the yatra. They said the yatra will reach Loni’s Gokulpuri Chowk in the afternoon of January 3 and the next day will reach neighboring district of Baghpat.

“Different opposition leaders have been invited by Rahul Gandhi and we have also been asked to get in touch with them. There are many small and big parties in Uttar Pradesh and we are in touch with their leaders, who have been requested to join. We will issue a list on January 3 about the people who will join the yatra. Apart from them, there are many eminent personalities who will also join,” Khurshid said in a press briefing in Ghaziabad.

He said he is also in touch with Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Jayant Chaudhary besides former Jammy and Kashmir chief minister Farookh Abdullah, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati and other leaders like Om Prakash Rajbhar and Swami Prasad Maurya, among others.

He said the route of Rahul Gandhi’s yatra was originally not through Uttar Pradesh, but it was on the insistence of party workers that the plan was changed to allow the yatra to pass through the state.

The Ghaziabad office-bearers of the party said the yatra will proceed to Baghpat on January 4 and further to Kairana. The entire stretch of the yatra in Uttar Pradesh is 80km and it will then enter Haryana on the morning of January 6.

“So, Rahul Gandhi will come to Uttar Pradesh’s Loni. There are many people in Gandhi’s team who are well versed in the medical field and they are checking if any protocol has been issued pertaining to Covid-19. We will respect the Covid-19 protocol and it should be scientific,” Khurshid added.

Party leader Nasimuddin Siddiqui said the yatra has been undertaken to connect to people and listen to their issues regarding rising prices and unemployment, among others.

“There has also been a spread of division on the basis of caste and religion. We raised these issues at many fora and when our voices were neglected, Rahul Gandhi decided to undertake the yatra. At least 2,800km has been completed and the other phase starts on January 3,” Siddiqui said.

During the entire yatra which started from Kanyakumari on September 7, the Congress leader and party workers will be covering at least 12 states with a stretch of 3570km.