SHEGAON: Mahatma Gandhi's great-grandson, Tushar Gandhi, joined Rahul Gandhi in the Bharat Jodo Yatra at Shegaon in the Buldhana district of Maharashtra on Friday morning, with the Congress hailing his participation as "historic".
The yatra, which has been passing through Maharashtra since November 7, resumed the day's journey from Balapur in Akola district around 6 am and reached Shegaon a few hours later, where Tushar Gandhi, an author and activist, joined it.
In a tweet on Thursday, Tushar Gandhi had said that Shegaon was his birthplace.
''I will join the Bharat Jodo Yatra at Shegaon on 18th. Shegaon is my Birth Station as well. The train my mother was travelling in, 1 Dn. Howrah Mail Via Nagpur had halted at Shegaon Station on 17th January 1960 when I was born!" he had said in the post.
The Congress described Tushar Gandhi's participation in the yatra as historic.
The party described Rahul Gandhi and Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandsons of Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi, respectively, as carriers of the legacy of the two late leaders.
"The two walking together is a message to the rulers that they can put democracy in threat but will not be allowed to finish it off," the party said in a statement.
Apart from Tushar Gandhi, senior Congress leaders Mukul Wasnik, Deepender Hooda, Milind Deora, Manikrao Thakre, Mumbai Congress president Bhai Jagtap and party's state unit chief Nana Patole walked with Rahul Gandhi.
Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to address a public rally at Shegaon this evening.
The Bharat Jodo Yatra is in its last leg in Maharashtra and will enter Madhya Pradesh on November 20.