Bharat Jodo Yatra: Rahul turns cynosure of all eyes in Hyd'bad

Hyderabad: Continuing the march of Bharat Jodo Yatra, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi danced with traditional folk dancers famous as 'Potharaju' of the Bonalu festival and was seen playing cricket with kids on Wednesday here in Hyderabad. Bollywood actress and filmmaker Pooja Bhatt also joined the Yatra in Hyderabad.

Rahul Gandhi resumed the foot march from Balanagar on Wednesday and is expected to cover over 25 km. He will attend a corner meeting at Muthangi before halting for the night at Koulampet in the Medak district. This is the 8thday of the party's padayatra in the state, the 2ndday in Hyderabad.

On Wednesday early morning, the walkathon started from MGB Bazar in Balanagar and Pooja Bhatt daughter of the Bollywood director Mahesh Bhatt arrived to support Rahul Gandhi and is the first Bollywood celebrity to have joined the yatra and walked along with Rahul for a few km.

It was a spectacular sight to see a sea of people and tricolor flags on the road at Balanagar stretch. Telangana Congress leaders Revanth Reddy, Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka along with others marched while carrying the tri-color accompanying Rahul. Traffic was halted for a few hours as the Yatra passed through Balanagar, Hafeezpet, Madinaguda, BHEL, and other surroundings.

After a morning break at Hotel Kinara Grand in Hafeezpet, at around 4 pm the padayatra resumed from the BHEL bus stand to Muthangi where he had a corner meeting near Hari Dosa and proceeded towards Koulampet in Medak district for a night halt.

Thousands of people from different areas joined the yatra and supported Gandhi for his non-stop yatra from Kanyakumari-Kashmir. People welcomed him with cheers, drumbeats, whistles and traditional music. Taking a moment from the yatra, he stopped when he saw the Potharajus dancing and dancing along with them and also started playing the drum.

Rahul also interacted with the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) sanitation works and also played cricket with kids and gave them autographs.

During the walk, Rahul was also spotted taking care of a party worker after she fainted during the Yatra amid a huge rush. Gandhi offered water to the woman and asked her to take care. He instructed the security forces to ensure proper arrangements and made sure that the woman's path was cleared and that she was okay before letting the yatra resume.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra will cover 19 Assembly and seven Parliamentary constituencies spanning a total distance of 375 km in the state, before entering Maharashtra on November 7 with a one-day break on November 4.

The Yatra began on September 7 from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu. Gandhi completed the marathon walk in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka before entering Telangana.