Maharashtra: NCP chief Sharad Pawar to join Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Nanded on November 8

Patole made the announcement while addressing a press conference in Mumbai Sunday evening. Earlier in the day, he along with Maharashtra Congress in-charge HK Patil and senior party leader KC Venugopal attended a meeting in the Maharashtra capital to review preparations for the yatra.

Patole said the party has also extended an invitation to Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray but they were yet to receive a confirmation from the former chief minister about joining the yatra. The state Congress chief said Rahul Gandhi will address two rallies in Maharashtra. “One rally will be in Nanded, while the other one will be in Shegaon in Buldhana district…” he said.

He added that the yatra’s entry into Marathwada’s Nanded district will coincide with the region’s 75th year of freedom from the rule of the Nizam. “We will celebrate Marathwada’s freedom struggle with Rahul Gandhi in Nanded,” he said.

Earlier, Venugopal said the BJP and the RSS’s ‘single-point agenda’ of damaging the image of Rahul Gandhi has been defeated through the yatra. “They had only one agenda and that was to damage Rahul Gandhi’s image… But this yatra has brought out the real face of Rahul Gandhi and people of India are coming out in huge numbers to support him in every state,” he said. He added that Maharashtra will witness one of its biggest-ever crowds in support of Rahul Gandhi.