Cong yatra to go big in U.P. with likely seat-sharing push

In stark contrast to the first Bharat Jodo Yatra that made a touch-and-go appearance in Uttar Pradesh in early 2023, the second edition will have its biggest run in the most populous state covering 1074 km, spending 11 days and passing through 20 districts, mostly those in which the Congress won 21 Lok Sabha seats in 2009, in a move that observers see as part of efforts to put pressure on its INDIA allies, mainly the Samajwadi Party, for seat-sharing.

Known as the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, the major points on the route map in Uttar Pradesh this time are Varanasi, Prayagraj, Amethi, Rae Bareli, Lucknow, Bareilly, Aligarh, and Agra.

A close analysis of the route indicates that it coincides with most of the Lok Sabha constituencies that the Congress had won in 2009.

The seats won by the Congress in 2009 included Kushinagar, Maharajganj, Bahraich, Barabanki, Pratapgarh, Sultanpur, Amethi, Rae Bareli, Unnao, Dhaurahara, Kheri and Bareilly.

The yatra will skip the Bundelkhand and Kanpur regions where the Congress had won only four seats 15 years ago.

The INDIA bloc did not exist when the first edition of the 136-day Bharat Jodo Yatra was taken out from Kanyakumari to Srinagar between September 7, 2022 and January 30, 2023. That yatra had virtually skipped Uttar Pradesh, barring its entry from Loni in Ghaziabad on January 3, Baghpat on January 4, and made its exit from Kairana (Shamli) to Panipat in Haryana on January 5.

Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Rai said: “The yatra’s purpose is to kindle hope of justice among the fearful and distressed public and fight for justice for them. It is UP where under the BJP rule that people are most harassed and distressed. “

On whether the Congress was attempting to pressure the Samajwadi Party through the longest phase of the yatra in UP and touching the seats that it had won in 2009, Rai said: “The yatra is beyond electoral politics. It is a broader attempt to win people’s confidence and instil confidence in them.”

U.P. Congress’s organisation general secretary Anil Yadav said: “We, of course, are claiming those seats even before this yatra planning. In 2009, we had won 21 seats and the SP 23. Thereafter, no party could stand the onslaught of the BJP in UP in Lok Sabha polls. Moreover, Congress had been the frontrunner in struggling for people in the state for the past several years .”

Samajwadi Party MP and INDIA alliance coordination committee member Javed Ali Khan said: “It looks like quite a big leg of the Congress yatra in U.P. There is no clash between us. Any political party works towards strengthening its outreach. Their aim is to defeat the BJP, and that’s our aim too. Let the yatra begin, we also may greet the yatra at various places.”

The Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra will be launched at 12 noon from violence-hit Manipur’s capital Imphal on January 14. Party leader Rahul Gandhi will address the 6,700-km march twice daily over the course of 66 days.