Bhubaneswar: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is likely to spend four days and three nights in Odisha during his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra next month, secretary of All India Congress Committee (AICC) Sarat Rout said on Thursday.
He also informed about a change in the route plan in the state with tribal-dominated Mayurbhanj replacing Sambalpur. Gandhi will enter Odisha from Jharkhand and cover the districts of Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Sundargarh and Jharsuguda. “We are expecting that the yatra to pass through Odisha during the second and third week of February before entering the neighbouring Chhattisgarh,” Rout told a presser.
As per the modified route plan, Gandhi will enter Odisha through Karanjia in Mayurbhanj district. The state leaders have requested for further changes in the route to include more area and any deviation will be announced in a day or two.
Rout added that senior Congress leader will visit coastal and southern regions of the state later to attend other programmes. “The party is planning to organise a major rally in Bhubaneswar, likely to be addressed by Rahul Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge,” he informed.
The much-hyped yatra was scheduled to begin on January 14 from Hatta Kangjeibung in Imphal and cover 6,713 km, passing through 110 districts of 15 states including Odisha in 66 days, before culminating in Mumbai on March 20. The participants were to travel both on buses and by foot. However, Congress on Wednesday claimed that the Manipur government “declined” to give permission to Rahul Gandhi to commence his ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ from Imphal East district.
On the occasion of launching a sticker campaign to promote Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, the Odisha Congress appealed to people to participate in large numbers. They are optimistic that the yatra will boost the moral of leaders and workers of the state unit of Congress, which has been out of power in Odisha for the last 23 years and looking to revive its fortunes in the 2024 elections, having been relegated to third position in the state in 2019 elections, when it slumped to nine seats from 16 in 2015. This time, the new Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) has set a target of 90 seats.
A phone number was also released to allow those willing to take part in the yatra contact the state leaders.
