On Thursday, two constituents of the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar — Janata Dal (United) and Congress — kicked off their respective yatras in the state. While JD(U)’s yatra, headed by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, is aimed at checking the status of the ongoing programmes in the state, through Congress’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, headed by AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, the party chose to remind the BJP that it is the Congress for which democracy and the Constitution are still intact in the country. The JD(U)’s yatra, known as the Samadhan (solution) yatra, started from Valmiki Nagar in West Champaran. Speaking to the media before his 14th yatra since 2005, Kumar said, "I have set out on a yatra after a long time. The idea is to assess the ongoing programmes and see the status of the pending works. Our officials are taking note of every complaint and each pending project and we will ensure they are taken care of in two months.” Kumar also spoke about his plans to set out on a tour of the country to unite the Opposition. “The yatra will conclude sometime in February and then there is the Budget session. Once that is over, I will go out of Bihar and try to unite the Opposition ahead of the Lok Sabha polls,” he said. Far away from Valmiki Nagar, almost at the same time, Kharge launched the Bihar leg of the Bharat Jodo Yatra from Banka’s Mandar Hill area. The yatra in Bihar will be led by Rajya Sabha MP Akhilesh Prasad Singh and will travel through several districts of Bihar. Before joining the yatra for some distance, Kharge said, “PM Narendra Modi often asks what has the Congress done in the last 70 years. Let me tell him that if he is the Prime Minister today and I, the son of a poor man, am the AICC president and the Leader of Opposition, it is only because the Congress was able to safeguard democracy and the Constitution.” Slamming the BJP, Kharge said, “Neither did you play a role in getting the country freedom, nor did you fight for the country. Have you raised your hands against the Britishers? it was the Congress that did everything.”
