After a nine-day break for Christmas and New Year, the Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will resume its second leg from Delhi Tuesday. It is set to go to Srinagar and will pass through Himachal Pradesh, originally not part of the plan, for a day later this month. The Congress’s decision to skip Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh – where Assembly elections were held in November and December – during the Yatra had triggered political talk. Rahul did not campaign in Himachal either, while in Gujarat, he addressed two rallies in a day. Party sources told The Indian Express that the Yatra will pass through parts of Himachal along the border it shares with Punjab on January 19. A decision seems to have been taken to include Himachal in the Yatra route, following the Congress victory there. Rahul will pass through the state at a time when the Congress government there has not been able to induct ministers even three weeks after Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri took oath as sole members of the Council of Ministers. The warring factions in the state Congress, with intense lobbying, are in the way of an expansion. In fact, soon after the swearing-in, all the MLAs had gone to Rajasthan to be part of the Yatra. Sources said the Cabinet expansion might now take place after the three-day Winter Session of the Assembly from January 4 to January 6. At the press conference in Delhi where it detailed the schedule of the rest of the Yatra, the Congress said the march will end on Srinagar on January 30, the day Mahatma Gandhi was killed, after covering 3,122 km through 49 districts across nine states and Delhi. On Tuesday, the Yatra will resume from Marghat Hanuman Mandir near Kashmiri Gate in Delhi, and enter Uttar Pradesh by the end of the day. It will be in the state for three days before re-entering Haryana on January 6. The Yatra will be in Punjab from January 11 to 20, with a day in Himachal on January 19, before entering Jammu and Kashmir on January 20. AICC general secretary in charge, organisation, K C Venugopal said Rahul has held 87 sitting interactions with various groups over the last 108 days, apart from 95 corner meetings and 10 large public meetings.
