Ahmedabad: The Congress’ Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra led by Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi is set to enter Gujarat’s Dahod district from Rajasthan on Thursday amid desertions by some key state unit leaders of the party weeks before the Lok Sabha Elections.
Earlier this week, former state Congress chief Arjun Modhwadia and ex-working president of the state unit Ambarish Der joined the BJP on Tuesday. In further embarrassment for the grand-old party, MLA Arvind Ladani resigned and announced that he would be joining the ruling party.
The 6,700-km ‘Manipur to Mumbai’ yatra would be covering a distance of more than 400 km in Gujarat in four days before proceeding to Maharashtra where the yatra would conclude, as per PTI.
It will enter Jhalod taluka of Dahod district around 3 pm on March 7, a Congress functionary said.
Gandhi will begin the Gujarat leg of the yatra by offering tributes to Govind Guru, a tribal hero of the freedom struggle, at his ‘samadhi’ or memorial at Kamboi Dham in Jhalod taluka, state Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said.
The Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra will pass through seven districts of Gujarat which have sizable tribal population including Dahod, Panchmahal, Chhota Udepur, Bharuch, Tapi, Surat and Navsari, before entering Maharashtra at Navagam on the evening of March 10.
Gandhi will be speaking at six public meetings, 27 corner meetings and will be welcomed by supporters at more than 70 places, Manish Doshi said.
He will visit several temples along the route including the Pavagadh temple in Panchmahal district and Harsiddhi Mataji temple at Rajpipla. He will also offer prayers to Lord Shiva on Maha Shivratri on March 8.
The Congress leader will visit the Swaraj Ashram at Bardoli on the last day of his yatra in Gujarat to pay tributes to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
The Ashram was built in 1922 by Sardar Patel, and it served as the centre for planning and execution of the famous Bardoli Satyagraha, a farmers’ agitation against increased taxation which turned into a nationalist movement against British rule, the report added.
Gandhi will also hold foot marches through various towns along the way.
The state unit of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has entered into I.N.D.I.A. alliance with Congress as one of its main constituents for Lok Sabha elections in Gujarat, said it had accepted the Congress’ invitation to join in the yatra.
