Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, his Deputy Mukesh Agnihotri and the Congress' chief in the hill State Pratibha Singh walked alongside Rahul Gandhi in the Bharat Jodo Yatra on December 16 as it completed 100 days on the road.
Besides Mr. Sukhu, Mr. Agnihotri and the HPCC chief, some other newly elected Himachal Pradesh MLAs, including Pratibha Singh's son Vikramaditya Singh and AICC in-charge of the hill State Rajeev Shukla, joined the yatra after the tea break during the morning session.
Mr. Gandhi, along with Congress general secretary K. C. Venugopal, former Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and other senior leaders, began the morning leg of the yatra from the Meena High Court in Dausa.
"Bharat Jodo Yatra's biggest achievement is that issues of the common people of the country have been highlighted through it," Venugopal told PTI while walking in the yatra.
"The BJP's attempt of demolishing his [Mr. Gandhi's] image has also been destroyed by us," he added. The Congress general secretary (organisation) also stressed that the message of the yatra will be spread through a follow-up campaign to be undertaken by the party from January 26.
The yatra, which was launched on September 7 in Kanyakumari, has covered eight States – Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and now, Rajasthan.
With more than 2,800KM under his belt, Mr. Gandhi has managed to catch the attention of his supporters as well as detractors. Controversies have also been part and parcel of the yatra, with the Congress and the BJP trading barbs on several occasions.
The yatra will enter Delhi on December 24, and after a break of about eight days, move on to Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and finally, Jammu and Kashmir.
It has seen participation from a cross-section of society, including film and TV celebrities such as Pooja Bhatt, Riya Sen, Sushant Singh, Swara Bhasker, Rashami Desai, Akanksha Puri and Amol Palekar.
Besides participation from tinsel town celebrities, writers, military veterans, including former Navy chief admiral L. Ramdas, Opposition leaders such as Shiv Sena's Aaditya Thackeray and the NCP's Supriya Sule and former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan have also joined the march at various points.
