The Congress on Monday said the 150-day Bharat Jodo Yatra from September 7 covering 3,500 kms will be the party's biggest ever 'Jan Sampark' programme and Rahul Gandhi will walk "all the way" from Kanyakumari to Kashmir.
The BJP is "rattled" by the enthusiasm and response to the Yatra and it will indulge in "diversionary tactics" to distract people, claimed Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, K C Venugopal and Digvijaya Singh at a joint press conference after a meeting of all state unit chiefs and office bearers to finalise the Yatra plans.
Singh said the Bharat Jodo Yatra will start on September 7 with a massive rally in Kanyakumari at 5 pm.
"The march will start on September 8 morning with the participants walking around 6 to 7 hours every day and holding mass contact with people across the country," he said, adding they will organise marches from 7 am to 10 am in each assembly constituency across India to coincide with the yatra.
Asked if Rahul Gandhi will walk throughout the Yatra, Singh said, "Exactly. He will walk all the way." He added that the former Congress chief may campaign in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh in between.
The yatra will try to connect with the people at the grassroots and highlight the issues of unemployment, price rise and economic situation while helping unite the country's social fabric which is "strained under the BJP", Singh said He said at Monday's meeting, the Congress' state unit chiefs and coordinators discussed the detailed arrangements of the programme.
It has been decided that the Yatra is going to pass through only 10 states. Wherever the Yatra is not passing through, state-level Bharat Jodo Yatras should be held, Singh said.
All state unit presidents and Congress Legislature Party leaders would hold the Bharat Jodo Yatra in their respective states, he added.
Venugopal said on September 7 at 5 pm when Bharat Jodo Yatra begins from Kanyakumari, "our party workers will hold rallies in all assembly constituencies".
"The entire country is now waiting for this march. All Congress workers are enthusiastic about it. This yatra is going to be historic and massive and that is why the BJP is very much worried about it. They will do all diversionary politics on this yatra," he said.
Ramesh said the Yatra will be undertaken in five months starting September and will try to connect with as many people and listen to their grievances and concerns.
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