Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra to mark Day-100 with Jaipur concert

Dausa (Rajasthan): The Bharat Jodo Yatra's biggest achievement is that it highlighted issues relevant to the people, senior Congress leader K C Venugopal said on Friday as the Rahul Gandhi-led foot march completed 100 days on the road.

Gandhi, Venugopal, former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and other senior leaders of the party began the morning leg of the yatra from the Meena High Court here.

After a press conference at around 4 pm at the Congress office in Jaipur, the party has planned a concert in Jaipur at the Albert Hall around 7 pm to celebrate 100 days of Bharat Jodo Yatra.

"Bharat Jodo Yatra's biggest achievement is that issues of the common people of the country have been highlighted through it," Venugopal told PTI while walking in the yatra.

"The BJP's attempt of demolishing his (Gandhi's) image has also been destroyed by us," he added.

The Congress general secretary (organisation) also stressed that the message of the yatra will be spread through a follow-up campaign to be undertaken by the party from January 26.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, his deputy Mukesh Agnihotri and the Congress' chief in the hill state Pratibha Singh walked alongside Rahul Gandhi in the Bharat Jodo Yatra on Friday.

Besides Sukhu, Agnihotri and the HPCC chief, some other newly elected Himachal MLAs, including Pratibha Singh's son Vikramaditya Singh and AICC in-charge of the hill state Rajeev Shukla, joined the yatra after the tea break during the morning session.

The yatra, which was launched on September 7 in Kanyakumari has traversed eight states –Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and now, Rajasthan.

With over 2,800 kilometres under his belt, Gandhi has managed to catch the attention of his supporters as well as detractors.

Controversies have also been part and parcel of the yatra, with the Congress and the BJP trading barbs on several occasions.

The yatra will enter Delhi on December 24, and after a break of about eight days, move on to Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and finally, Jammu and Kashmir.

It has seen participation from a cross-section of society, including film and TV celebrities such as Pooja Bhatt, Riya Sen, Sushant Singh, Swara Bhasker, Rashami Desai, Akanksha Puri and Amol Palekar.

Besides participation from tinsel town celebrities, writers, military veterans, including former Navy chief admiral L Ramdas, Opposition leaders such as Shiv Sena's Aaditya Thackeray and the NCP's Supriya Sule, and former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, have also joined the march at various points.