The special attention from the grand old Congress party is coming at a time when in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress has only one MP, Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli while in the past two Lok Sabha polls, all 26 seats in Gujarat have gone to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Congress MP Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Nyay Yatra starting from January 14 in Manipur’s Imphal is all set to show some added importance to some of the 14 states in its route, which includes Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. The final route of the yatra is yet to be chalked out. However, Rahul Gandhi is likely to spend nearly a week each in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat underscoring their political importance, two Congress leaders privy to the matter said on condition of anonymity.
The special attention from the grand old party is coming at a time when in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress has only one MP, Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli while in the past two Lok Sabha polls, all 26 seats in Gujarat have gone to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The two leaders who spoke on condition of anonymity, also said, that the party has decided to focus on states not covered during the last year’s Bharat Jodo Yatra.
“Both UP and Gujarat will be given prominence during the yatra. The Bharat Jodo Yatra didn’t touch Gujarat and spent just three days in UP. This time, we might spend 6-7 days both in UP and Gujarat,” one of them said.
This second edition of last year's Bharat Jodo Yatra is expected to cover 14 states in 55 days which will encompass 358 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats in the upcoming general elections. This time, the core theme of the yatra will be “saving the Constitution”.
The 'yatris' are expected to cover an average 120 km daily for two months by bus in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The march will cover 14 states and 85 districts. The final route will be decided in a meeting on January 8.
As per media reports, the tentative route begins with one day in Manipur and Nagaland and 3-4 days in Assam before entering West Bengal.
In West Bengal, where the Congress has just two Lok Sabha MPs, the yatra will focus on the northern part of the state, which was once a stronghold of the Congress.
“North Bengal is also important for us as out of the four seats in that area, three are reserved constituencies. The yatra might not even come to Kolkata and south Bengal, which is a Trinamool bastion, but focus on the Congress’ strongholds,” said a Congress leader.
“In the Bharat Jodo Yatra, we had to skip Gujarat purely for logistical issues as the yatra would have gone longer. This time, Rahul Gandhi might travel extensively in Gujarat, which would be covered before the yatra enters Maharashtra,” another Congress leader said.