In Haryana second leg, Rahul Yatra to cross Khattar, Vij constituencies

In its second leg, the Yatra will traverse Panipat, Karnal, Kurukshetra and Ambala before entering Punjab. It will pass through nine Assembly constituencies along the Delhi-Chandigarh national highway, which are represented by top state BJP leaders including Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar (Karnal) and Home Minister Anil Vij (Ambala Cantonment). Another constituency along this route, Shahbad, is represented by Ram Karan, the MLA from the Jannayak Janata Party (JPP), the BJP’s ally.

The Yatra will also cross the Assembly constituencies such as Assandh, Israna, Samalkha, Naraingarh, and Maulana that are held by the Congress party.

The Congress leadership has asked its current and former MLAs from across the state to bring in party workers and supporters for the Yatra. Bhupinder Hooda, his son and Rajya Sabha MP Deepender, along with Bhan and other Congress leaders have been holding meetings with the party workers to ensure that the Yatra goes on smoothly.

Other senior Haryana Congress leaders, such as All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary in charge of Chhattisgarh Kumari Selja, HPCC working presidents, including Shruti Choudhry and Ram Kishan Gujjar, Tosham MLA Kiran Choudhry and former Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Sharma are expected to take part in Rahul’s march through the state.

Hooda recently said the second phase of the Yatra would be “record-breaking” and bigger than the first phase.

“Lakhs of people joined the Yatra from Firozpur Jhirka to Faridabad and Delhi border. Seeing this enthusiasm, it seems that the first phase was just a trailer, and the full film will be screened in the second phase. Haryana will break its own crowd record in the second phase,” Hooda said.

He added, “There will be one rally that will be held in Panipat. Irrespective of whatever the ruling party says, the Yatra that began from Kanyakumari will go on its scheduled path and shall reach Srinagar. There is immense enthusiasm among the people of Haryana who shall be joining in this upcoming phase of Yatra from Panipat. It will be a record-breaking number of people this time.”

A few days ago, the Congress wrote a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah to express concerns about security breaches during the Delhi leg of the Yatra, a claim that the CRPF has rejected.

On the Congress’s security concerns, Vij said the state government has sought details of the route plan of the Yatra and that adequate security arrangements would be ensured.

On Sunday, Deepender held meetings with party workers in Panipat to review preparations for Yatra.

Claiming that the Panipat rally would be “an unprecedented show of strength”, Deepender added, “A wave of change in Haryana has been blowing due to Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra. A grand welcome would be accorded to the Yatra, even bigger than what was given in Firozpur Jhirka, when it enters Panipat on January 5 in its second phase.”

The elections to the 90-member Haryana Assembly are slated for October 2024. In the current Assembly, the BJP has 41 MLAs and JJP has 10, while the Congress has 30 MLAs. There are seven Independent MLAs and one each from the Indian National Lok Dal and Haryana Lokhit Party.