After unfurling the tricolour at Lal Chowk in Srinagar on Sunday, Rahul Gandhi spoke at an event on the eve of the Yatra’s finale, where he said that the march got tremendous response and love from people
Congress’ ambitious foot march comes to an end after covering nearly 4,000 kilometers over almost five months, with a concluding event on Monday in Kashmir. The Congress has reportedly invited 21 ‘like-minded’ opposition parties for the grand finale of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, but several key parties including the TMC are likely to give it a miss.
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After unfurling the tricolour at Lal Chowk in Srinagar on Sunday, Rahul Gandhi spoke on the eve of the Yatra’s finale, where he said that the march got tremendous response and love from people and “will have impact on Indian polity, but what it will be, I can’t tell right now.”
Top Updates:
- Bharat Jodo Yatra memorial to be unveiled today. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will unfurl the national flag at the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee headquarters and also unveil a memorial for the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
- Finale function at Congress headquarters followed by a rally. The concluding ceremony will be held at the Jammu and Kashmir Congress headquarters in Srinagar, followed by a rally led by Rahul Gandhi at the Sher-e-Kashmir Stadium, where the Congress and other like-minded parties are expected to join in, as per Hindustan Times.
- 12 Opposition parties to join. As per NDTV, 12 opposition parties will join Rahul Gandhi for the concluding function of the Bharat Jodo Yatra that kicked off on September 7 last year in Kanyakumari. These include MK Stalin-led Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Tejashwi Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United), Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena, CPI(M), CPI, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), Kerala Congress, Farooq Abdullah-led Jammu & Kashmir National Conference, Mehbooba Mufti’s Jammu and Kashmir People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and Shibu Soren’s Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).
- TMC, SP, likely to skip. Several key opposition parties including TMC, SP and TDP are likely to skip the event.
- ‘Like-minded’ Opposition parties invited. According to a senior Congress strategist, all like-minded parties, including the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharat Rashtriya Samithi (formerly TRS) have been invited to attend the march, as per Hindustan Times. Read More: UP CM Adityanath Asks Ministers to Visit Districts Under Their Charge at Regular Intervals
- Five political parties not invited. The AIADMK, YSRCP, BJD, AIMIM, and AIUDF – have not been invited, as per reports.
- 21 Opposition parties were invited. These include Trinamool Congress, the Janata Dal(United), the Shiv Sena-UBT, the Telugu Desam Party, the National Conference (both Farooq and Omar Abdullah were invited), the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party, the DMK, the CPI, the CPI(M), the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the RJD (both Lalu Prasad and Tejashwi Yadav), the RLD, the Hindustani Awam Morcha, the Peoples Democratic Party, the Nationalist Congress Party, the MDMK, the VCK, the IUML, the KSM and the RSP.
- Kharge wrote personal invites to Opposition parties. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge reportedly wrote personal letters to several opposition parties, inviting them to attend the unity march’s finale event.
- Concluding function of the Bharat Jodo Yatra today. The finale to mark the culmination of the ambitious foot march will be held today, Jan 30 in Kashmir.
- Sunday marked the last walking day of the yatra. The yatra resumed on Sunday morning from Pantha Chowk and culminated near Nehru Park on Boulevard Road in the city. Rahul Gandhi unfurled the national flag at Lal Chowk in the city in the presence of sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other party leaders.
- The yatra covered 4,080 km through 12 states and two Union territories. Rahul Gandhi addressed 12 public meetings, over 100 corner meetings, 13 press conferences. He had over 275 planned walking interactions and more than 100 sitting interactions, as per PTI.
