UP Congress to invite INDIA bloc members to join Rahul’s yatra

Lucknow: The UP Congress will extend invitation to the constituent parties of the INDIA bloc to join the second edition of Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra of senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, when it passes through Uttar Pradesh tentatively between February 14 and 25.

“However, there will not be any compulsion for participation," said the newly appointed party general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh Avinash Pande.

“Hopefully, the seat-sharing in Uttar Pradesh (among INDIA bloc parties) too will be decided by then,” he told reporters.

The first edition of the yatra made a touch-and-go appearance in Uttar Pradesh in early 2023.

The second edition will have its biggest run in Uttar Pradesh -- the most populous state where the yatra will cover 1074 km, spending 11 days and passing through 20 districts -- of east, central, and west UP regions.

When asked about Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati attacking Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav through a post on X, and the possibility of the SP and the BSP coming together, Pande said, “When everyone’s aim is the same, all the like-minded parties will have to come together with a single goal.”

Without taking the name of Mayawati or any party not currently in the INDIA bloc, Pande said: “The coordinators in INDIA bloc are in touch with all the parties which match our ideology and have the common goal of defeating the BJP. These discussions are happening differently in different states. We are trying to understand the dynamic situation in every state. We are serious about our alliance. We want that only one candidate should be fielded against the BJP on each seat.”

UPCC will also run a 100-day Samvaad campaign and take out Mashaal Yatras across the state.

Avinash Pande also said, “We are going to hold a Samvaad (dialogue) programme and workshop to strengthen the party at organisational level across all districts. On the day Rahul Gandhiji’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra begins in the Manipur capital Imphal, the UPCC will take out Mashaal Nyay Yatra on January 14 for five kms with senior leaders and frontal organisations at all regional head offices.”

“We will go to Ayodhya for darshan on January 15, and then again from January 16 to 18 our Samvaad meetings will go on. On January 26, Nyay Yatras will be taken out in all blocks. Then, Samvaad programme will run across all districts and by February 14 tentatively Rahul Gandhi’s Nyay Yatra would enter UP,” he stated.

The Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra will be launched at 12 noon from violence-hit Manipur’s capital Imphal on January 14. Party leader Rahul Gandhi will address the 6,700-km march twice daily over the course of 66 days.

The major points on the route map of the yatra in Uttar Pradesh this time are Varanasi, Prayagraj, Amethi, Rae Bareli, Lucknow, Bareilly, Aligarh, and Agra.

The INDIA bloc did not exist when the first edition of the 136-day Bharat Jodo Yatra was taken out from Kanyakumari to Srinagar between September 7, 2022 and January 30, 2023.

That yatra had virtually skipped Uttar Pradesh in 2023, barring its entry from Loni in Ghaziabad on January 3, Baghpat on January 4, and made its exit from Kairana (Shamli) to Panipat in Haryana on January 5.