Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and his cabinet colleague T S Singh Deo on Saturday joined the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra which is passing through Madhya Pradesh. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra left for Delhi after taking part in the foot-march for three days.
The march, which began from Mortakka in Khandwa district on Saturday morning, broke for lunch at Manihar, after which it resumed from Umeria Chowki where Baghel and Singh Deo, two rivals in Chhattisgarh Congress, joined.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, her husband Robert Vadra and their son Raihan had been with the march since Thursday morning. They had now returned to Delhi, a Congress leader informed.
Rahul Gandhi and other participants later proceeded to Mhow, the birthplace of Dr B R Ambedkar, by vehicles as the further route passed through the hilly and forested terrain of Balwada, party functionaries said.
Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge would be speaking at a public meeting at Mhow to mark Constitution Day. During the day, Rahul Gandhi interacted 45-year-old ragpicker Shannu and her family members at Barwaha.
"We are poor and make a living through rag-picking. We live in a hut, which does not even have electricity and water connect," she told Gandhi. "My children can't even go to school," she said.
Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh fell during the march near Barwaha which triggered a war of words between the opposition party and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on the condition of roads in Madhya Pradesh.
Singh he fell while walking to towards a roadside restaurant during tea break but was unhurt. He was helped to his feet by Congress workers surrounding him, eye-witnesses said. "Digvijaya Singh has fallen to the ground four times so far during the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
However, he has fallen for the first time in Madhya Pradesh and the reason is the state also has bad roads," Congress media in-charge Jairam Ramesh told reporters.
Hitting back, BJP leader Narendra Saluja tweeted the video of the incident and said the Rajya Sabha MP fell due to pushing and shoving by Congress workers rather than due to the road condition.
The Bharat Jodo Yatra entered MP from Maharashtra through Burhanpur district on November 23 and would be covering a distance of 380 kilometres in the state's Malwa-Nimar region before crossing into Rajasthan on December 4.
(With PTI Inputs)
