New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has decided to cut short his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Uttar Pradesh by skipping the western region of the state and saving five days, state party chief Ajay Rai said on Monday, citing board exams. The decision follows indications that Samajwadi Party ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) may join hands with the BJP for the April-May Lok Sabha elections after Bharat Ratna was conferred on former prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh, a prominent Jat leader considered as a messiah of the farmers.
SP president Akhilesh Yadav is likely to join the yatra in Rae Bareli on February 20. Rai dismissed the speculation that the yatra is skipping western UP region because of the recent and visible shift of RLD chief Jayant Singh towards the BJP. It has nothing to do with the RLD factor. It is primarily because of the concern for the UP board examinations, Rai said.
Rahul Gandhi will be accompanied by his sister Priyanka Gandhi during the entire UP chapter of the yatra, Rai told PTI. Elaborating on the schedule of the yatra in Uttar Pradesh, state party spokesperson Anshu Awasthi said the yatra will enter the state through Varanasi on February 16 and then reach Amethi on February 19 via Bhadohi, Prayagraj and Pratapgarh. On February 19, Rahul Gandhi will address a public meeting at Gauriganj in Amethi Lok Sabha constituency.
The yatra will reach Raebareli the next day from where it will proceed for Lucknow where Rahul Gandhi and other participants are likely to make a night halt. Raebareli is the only Lok Sabha seat which is held by the Congress in UP. Currently, Sonia Gandhi is the Lok Sabha MP from the constituency. In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Rahul Gandhi had lost Amethi seat to Union minister Smriti Irani.
Sonia Gandhi’s representative Kishori Lal Sharma and Congress secretary Rajesh Tiwari on Monday reached the party office in Gauriganj and held a meeting with the office-bearers. Sharma said the yatra will reach Amethi on February 19. Amethi is the karmabhoomi of the Nehru Gandhi family which has sacrificed their lives for Independence, unity and integrity of the country. Sharma alleged that the government was scared of Rahul Gandhi’s yatra and had hatched hundreds of conspiracies with the help of communal forces.
Awasthi said the yatra will reach Unnao from Lucknow on February 21. It will enter Kanpur via Unnao city and Shuklaganj. Subsequently, it will reach Jhansi via Kanpur and Hamirpur, after which it would enter Madhya Pradesh the same day. Setting an example of sensitivity, Rahul Gandhi ji has given public interest a priority on many occasions. Keeping in mind the UP Board examinations starting from February 22, the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra will remain in Uttar Pradesh from February 16 to February 21, Awasthi said in a statement issued here.
The yatra was earlier scheduled to remain in Uttar Pradesh till February 26. Earlier, Rahul Gandhi had cancelled his rallies in Bengal out of concern for the people during the COVID-19 period, the spokesperson said. According to the website of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, the hybrid bus-foot march was earlier scheduled to reach Bareilly from Lucknow.
It would have then gone to Aligarh and Agra before entering Rajasthan. On being asked, when Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav will be joining the yatra, Awasthi told PTI, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav is likely to join the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Raebareli district on February 20 and take part in a road show. Yadav 6 received an invitation on February to join Rahul Gandhi’s yatra which will enter Uttar Pradesh on February 16. Yadav had said he will join the yatra either in Amethi or Raebareli.
Akhilesh Yadav has received an invitation of (Congress president) Mallikarjun Kharge to join Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, which enters UP on February 16. Yadav has given consent to join the yatra either in Amethi or Raebareli, the SP had said in a statement. Yadav said he expected the yatra to join the ‘PDA’ strategy of the SP while entering the state and take forward its agitation for social justice and mutual harmony.
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