Congress to launch ‘Parivartan Sankalp Yatra’ in poll-bound Gujarat from Tuesday

The yatra will include 145 public meetings and 95 rallies, and cover 5,432 kms, with an aim to establish ‘direct contact’ with 45 million people

The Congress has postponed the launch of their ‘Gujarat Parivartan Sankalp Yatra’ in five zones of the poll-bound state to Tuesday in light of the Morbi bridge tragedy on Sunday night.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge with chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi last week. (ANI Photo)

Earlier, the party planned to launch the yatra on October 31 from Vadgam, Bhuj, Somanth, Fagvel, and Jambusar to commemorate the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and the death anniversary of former prime minister Indira Gandhi.

The yatra will include 145 public meetings and 95 rallies, and cover 5,432 kms, with an aim to establish ‘direct contact’ with 45 million people, said Gujarat congress president Jagdish Thakor.

More than 1 million party workers are expected to join the yatra, and the opposition party plans to inform people that it will fulfill 11 promises if voted to power, Thakor said.

Several senior party leaders will participate in the yatra, including Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, his Chhattisgarh counterpart Bhupesh Baghel, former Madhya Pradesh chief ministers Digvijaya Singh and Kamal Nath, and Congress MLA Sachin Pilot.

Meanwhile, senior Gujarat Congress leader Siddharth Patel claimed that the people of the state were agitated by the “BJP’s misrule, wrong policy, and clumsy administration” over the past three decades.

As part of its promises, Congress has vowed to provide free treatment of up to ₹10 lakh, farmers’ debt waiver of up to ₹3 lakh, electricity bill waiver, 1 million government jobs for youths, unemployment allowance of ₹3,000 per month, the opening of 3,000 government English medium schools, and ₹4 lakh compensation for families of those who died because of Covid-19, among others.