After Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra completed its Haryana leg, a new trend of politicians hitting the roads and holding similar rallies has emerged in the state that is scheduled to go to polls in 2024. The Haryana unit of the Congress has declared that it will conduct a two-month-long ‘Haath-Se-Haath Jodo Abhiyan’ led by Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Udai Bhan and former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Abhay Singh Chautala, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) Ellenabad MLA and former leader of the opposition, has also announced to conduct a yatra dubbed as ‘Parivartan Rally’ covering all 90 Assembly constituencies in the state. Chautala said he would cover the length and breadth of the state in about seven months. Independent Meham MLA Balraj Kundu has announced a rally starting January 26. In February 2020, Kundu withdrew his support to the BJP during the Budget session. He has shown strong resentment towards Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, accusing the latter of not taking action against the corrupt. Kundu has been a vocal critic of the state government on corruption, unemployment, price rise and farmer issues. “Earlier, I had planned to begin the yatra on November 1, 2022, on the occasion of Haryana Diwas. But due to certain reasons, I could not do so. I have now decided to start it from January 26 and shall be covering the rural areas of Haryana… Thousands of youngsters are uncertain about their future. Despite having degrees, they don’t have jobs to utilise their calibre. The state government, on the other hand, is duping them in the name of Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam by promoting the contractual system of recruitment,” Kundu said. “The yatra will commence from Nangal Chaudhary. I and my supporters shall daily walk for about 23-25 km depending upon the route map and halt in villages during the night,” Kundu added. Nangal Chaudhary is a town-cum-tehsil in Mahendragarh district. Talking to The Indian Express, Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda said: “As a follow up of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, the state unit of the Indian National Congress shall be conducting a Haath-Se-Haath-Jodo Yatra. It is a mass-connect programme that the party shall conduct across the state. A meeting of all MLAs, former MLAs, MPs, former MPs, PCC delegates and other members in this regard has been called in Chandigarh on January 25. We shall be finalising the detailed strategy for this programme in that meeting. The mass-connect programme shall be conducted across the state, at the district level, constituency level, the village as well as the block level to engage more people and make them join hands with the Congress.” The yatra headed by INLD’s Abhay Chautala will commence from Nuh on February 20 and conclude on September 25, on the occasion of the birth anniversary of INLD founder and former deputy prime minister Devi Lal. INLD’s state president Nafe Singh Rathi said: “The yatra shall cover all the 90 Assembly constituencies of Haryana. A nine-member committee has been constituted to work out all the modalities and prepare a route map. The committee members include retired IAS officer RS Chaudhary, former Haryana DGP MS Malik, former chief parliamentary secretary Sham Singh Rana, Prakash Bharti, Karan Singh Chautala, Sumitra Devi, Umed Lohan and Surjit Sandhu.” An INLD office-bearer further said, “February 20 is celebrated as World Day for Social Justice, which is why the day has been chosen to begin this padayatra. The people of Haryana have to be saved from the BJP-JJP coalition government and the INLD has to come back to power to serve farmers and all other sections of the society.” Prepping up for the 2024 poll battle, the BJP is also on an expansion spree. BJP state president Om Prakash Dhankar has set a target of inducting four lakh panna pramukhs across Haryana. The state president has asked district presidents and other office bearers to ensure that all panna pramukhs be assigned their specific duties and tasks by January 31 and all of them should be included in workshops to be conducted till April 6 (BJP’s Foundation Day).
