The Maharashtra leg of Congress’s Kanyakumari to Kashmir Bharat Jodo Yatra began on Tuesday after the completion of the south India part of the party’s biggest public outreach in years. The participants of the yatra will cover 382 km in Maharashtra over 14 days before entering Madhya Pradesh.
Rahul Gandhi, who is leading the yatra, kicked it off in Maharashtra at 7.30am from a gurudwara in Nanded before halting after walking around five kilometers. The yatra will resume at 3pm from Khatgaon Phata and conclude for the day at Bhopala after covering around 10 km. Gandhi is expected to address a corner meeting there.
Gandhi and other top Congress leaders prayed at the gurudwara on the occasion of Guru Nanak’s birth celebrations. Congress workers gathered outside the gurudwara and sang patriotic songs.
Thousands of people earlier gathered to welcome Gandhi upon his arrival in Maharashtra. Telangana Congress chief Revanth Reddy, who was carrying a torch, handed it over to his Maharashtra counterpart, Nana Patole, at Deglur where Gandhi made a brief address.
He said that his yatra has been on for two months and will not stop till it reaches Srinagar. “No one can stop this yatra. We will end it only after hoisting the tricolour at Srinagar,” he said. Gandhi said he has undertaken the yatra against hatred, intolerance, and violence being spread in the country.
{{/usCountry}}He said that his yatra has been on for two months and will not stop till it reaches Srinagar. “No one can stop this yatra. We will end it only after hoisting the tricolour at Srinagar,” he said. Gandhi said he has undertaken the yatra against hatred, intolerance, and violence being spread in the country.
{{/usCountry}}He criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi over rising inflation and unemployment. “For 14 days, I will be in Maharashtra and understand the problems of the people here.”