Bharat Jodo yatra: Congress holds meet to chalk out campaign

New Delhi, June 5:  The first meeting of the group which will oversee the 'Bharat Jodo' padyatra of the Congress party from Kanyakumari to Kashmir took place here on Sunday. The meeting was attended by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and others.

Sources say that a broad outline has been chalked out for the program.

Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh tweeted, "The first meeting of the Central Planning Group for Bharat Jodo Yatra took place today. The Kanyakumari to Kashmir yatra will start on October 2 and planning for it began in right earnest. Rahul Gandhi also attended the meeting."

The yatra which will start from Kanyakumari and end in Kashmir will pass through at least 12 states. In these states the party will reach out to like-minded groups and political parties. The Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra will try to take along like-minded political forces and NGOs working in social sectors, sources said.

On May 15, Congress president Sonia Gandhi announced that the party will embark on a "Bharat Jodo" pad yatra from October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, and will also set a task force for internal reforms within a week.

"We will launch a national Kanyakumari to Kashmir Bharat Jodo Yatra on Gandhi Jayanti this year. All of us will participate in it. The Yatra is to strengthen the bonds of social harmony that are under stress, to preserve the foundational values of our Constitution that are under assault, and to highlight the day-to-day concerns of crores of our people," Gandhi had said.