What is Congress’s Bharat Jodo Yatra? Why is Rahul Gandhi not leading it?

India’s grand old party, the Indian National Congress (INC) will start a nationwide Bharat Jodo Yatra, from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, on October 2, 2022. This yatra is expected to take place over a period of one-and-a-half year and it is expected to cover a distance of approximately 3,686 kilometres.

The party made this decision during the three-day-long Nav Sankalp Shivir held in Udaipur in mid-May.

Digvijay Singh is the convenor of the group set up by Sonia Gandhi for organising this rally. Three core groups were formed to work for thisYatra. The three groups are Political Affair Group, Task Force 2024 and Central Planning Group. 

The Task Force Group has prominent Congress leaders like P Chidambaram, Mukul Wasnik, Jairam Ramesh, Priyanka Gandhi Wadra, KC Venugopal, Ajay Maken, Randeep Surjewala and Sunil Kanugolu. 

The Political Affair Group has Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ambika Soni, Digvijay Singh, Anand Sharma, KC Venugopal and Jitendra Singh. 

The Central Planning Group has Digvijay Singh, Sachin Pilot, Shashi Tharoor, Ravneet Singh Bittu, KJ George, Jothimani, Pradyut Bordoloi, Jeetu Patwari and Salim Ahmed. 

WHY RAHUL GANDHI WON’T LEAD IT

In a recent meeting, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said that he would walk but not lead the Bharat Jodo Yatra, India Today reported.

The reason why Gandhi is reluctant in leading this rally is interpreted towards his hesitancy in becoming the AICC chief, the election of which is expected to be held in August-September. 

He had resigned from the post on May 25, 2019 after Congress faced a massive setback in 2019 Lok Sabha polls. His mother Sonia Gandhi is the interim president for now.

Also, Congress party faced massive defeat in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls and was reduced to only 2 seats.

The last election which the Congress won under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi was in 2018 when the Congress had won Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh.

With Gandhi backing out, it is still not clear who would be leading this Yatra.