Bhopal: Congress' 'Jan Aakrosh Yatra' To Counter BJP's 'Aashirwad Yatra' From Sept 19, Will Be Led By 7 Senior Party Leaders

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Countering BJP's Jan Aashirwad Yatra, Congress will kick start its 'Jan Aakrosh Yatra' from September 19. The rally will cover all 230 constituencies of the state, said AICC general secretary and state in-charge Randeep Surjewala, here to media persons on Saturday.

Surjewala announced that Congress’s seven Jan Akrosh Yatras, starting on Ganesh Chaturthi (September 19) will travel 11,400 km through all 230 assembly segments of the state in 15 days.

The seven Yatras will be led by seven senior leaders of the party from separate regions, including leader of opposition Dr Govind Singh (Yatra led by him will travel 1600 km), former union ministers, Arun Yadav (1700 km), Suresh Pachouri (1400 km) and Kantilal Bhuria (1700 km), besides CWC member Kamleshwar Patel (1900 km), ex-MP minister Jitu Patwari (1700 km) and former LoP Ajay Singh ‘Rahul’ (1400 km).

Surjewala further added, “The BJP’s original face has been lost, instead it’s a banawati, dikhawati, milawati and sajawati (artificial, show off and adulterated) BJP which is presently travelling through the state.”

The Congress party made it crystal clear that the state party chief and former CM Kamal Nath will be the state’s chief minister if Congress is voted to power in the state in the coming assembly polls.

However, it will be decided by the party’s central election committee (CEC), whether Nath will contest the assembly polls himself or prefer the by-elections route like May 2019.

Surjewala also maintained that it was yet to be decided whether the first public rally of the I.N.D.I.A bloc will be held in Bhopal or somewhere else. “It’s still being discussed between Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge and leaders representing other partner parties of the alliance, once something is freezed, we’ll tell you, whether it’ll be held here (Bhopal) or somewhere else.”

Speaking about the controversy generated by the remarks of DMK leaders recently and the PM launching a scathing attack on the opposition over it recently in MP’s Sagar district, Kamal Nath said, “India is a country of Sanatan Dharma, but has the BJP become an agency of a particular religion? By raking up this issue, the BJP wants to divert the public attention from basic and real issues, just like it did in 2019 general elections through diversionary tactics of nationalism and surgical strikes.