NEW DELHI: 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 Legislative 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.
BJP, NDA mock Congress over Azad's exit
BJP national president J P Nadda on Monday said that senior leaders with 40-50 years of association with the Congress are leaving the outfit as it has become a "family party".
He claimed that the grand old party is getting weakened as it did not amalgamate regional aspirations with national aspirations and commitments.
Without naming Ghulam Nabi Azad, who quit the Congress days ago, Nadda said, "Senior leaders with 40-50 years of the association are leaving the party. It is because they have realised that Congress is now neither a national party nor a regional one. It has become a family party."
He also listed out several regional outfits and claimed those too have become "family parties".
"The Indian National Congress was such a big party. But now it is getting weakened as it didn't amalgamate regional aspirations with national aspirations and commitments," Nadda said.
He gave examples of several states that Congress had ruled for decades but does not have a strong presence now.
"The BJP is not run by a family, it runs on ideology. That's why nobody can stop it," the BJP chief asserted while addressing a meeting of party workers after inaugurating the rebuilt Northeast office of the saffron party here.
He said the BJP is marching ahead in the Northeast with sustenance with the party returning to power in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.
Nadda asserted the same will happen in Nagaland and Tripura as well, NDA-ruled states that are going to assembly polls next year.
"There is no stopping to the journey you've embarked upon. There is no comparison with the opposition. They will try, but we will move ahead," he said.
Without naming former prime minister Manmohan Singh, the BJP chief questioned what he did for Assam and how many times he visited the state despite the state sending him to the Parliament for 10 years.
Speaking about the Emergency period, Nadda claimed that 1.3 lakh people were thrown into jails, of whom 70,000 were those with belief in the BJP ideology.
Apart from Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, his counterparts from Manipur and Tripura, N Biren Singh and Manik Saha respectively, were also present during the programme.
Sarma said that during the Congress rule, all the northeastern states used to fight with each other over boundary disputes, "but now all differences are getting resolved through dialogue".
He announced that the new headquarters of the Assam unit will be inaugurated in Guwahati on October 8 this year in the presence of Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
"In the next 2-3 years, we will set up offices till the mandal level. We have almost completed construction of district offices across Assam. We are also creating a big fund with members' contribution only," he said.
Singh said the Northeast was looked at as a "troubled region" and no chief ministers used to interact with each other.
"Now, there is a collective approach in every issue," he said.
Earlier in the day, Nadda was received by Sarma and other senior BJP leaders upon his arrival at the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport here from Tripura.
He then went to Kamakhya Temple and offered prayers there.
Union Minister and RPI (Athawale) president Ramdas Athawale on Monday said Azad should work together with the ruling NDA.
The Congress is fast losing its popularity under Rahul Gandhi's leadership and many leaders are quitting the party, he said.
"Ghulam Nabi Azad has now got 'Azadi' (freedom) after quitting Congress," Athawale told reporters here.
He said "maximum" Congress party in Jammu and Kashmir would go with Azad, he said.
"I would like to appeal to Ghulam Nabi Azad that you come to our NDA. You should come to NDA for the sake of development of Jammu Kashmir or the country. If you have to form a separate party. That is good and you have the liberty. But, your party should come to NDA," he said.
Athawale, Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was emotional in his farewell for Azad in Rajya Sabha.
It is wrong to make allegations against Modi and the BJP as the BJP now represented all castes and religions, he said.
He cited the examples of Ram Nath Kovind and Droupadi Murmu occupying the top Constitutional post of President.
Asked who will become the president of Congress, he said it would be good for NDA if Rahul Gandhi becomes the Congress chief.
"I feel it will be very good for us if Rahul Gandhi ji becomes the president. But it is not known who will become the president. Whoever becomes president, our greetings. He should do well and expand his party," Athawale added.
"It will be good if a senior person is given the responsibility. But, it is for the Congress to take a decision as to what to do. Congress should elect a permanent president quickly and work to improve their party," he said.
Athawale expressed confidence that the BJP and NDA would come to power in the 2024 General Elections with a thumping majority.