Congress to kick off 'UP Jodo Yatra' on December 20

The 'UP Jodo Yatra' will begin in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur and culminate in Sitapur.

It will be conducted under the leadership of state party chief Ajay Rai and is expected to cover 16 parliamentary constituencies.

Several Congress leaders, including Nirmal Khatri, Salman Khurshid, Ajay Lallu, Brijlal Khabri, Zafar Ali Naqvi, etc., have been given significant responsiblities.

This comes at a time when the country is gearing up for the Lok Sabha polls, due in 2024.

Meanwhile, the election results in four states, especially the losses in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh, came as a huge blow to the Congress's hopes for 2024, as it is now out of power across a vast swathe of the Hindi heartland.

The Congress brass, earlier this month, held meetings to analyse its abysmal performance in the recently concluded assembly polls.

However, the grand-old party secured its victory in the 119-member assembly state of Telangana by securing 64 seats.

Earlier, the Bharat Jodo Yatra, which started in Kanyakumari on September 7 last year and was led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, concluded on January 30 in Srinagar after covering 3,970 km, 12 states, and two Union territories and having lasted more than 130 days.

In the first leg of the yatra, Gandhi had walked almost 4,000 km from Kanyakumari to Kashmir.

The impact of Rahul Gandhi's yatra was seen during the polls in Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh, as they recorded a sharp increase in strike rate and vote share.

The Yatra travelled 511km in Karnataka over 22 days between Gundlupet constituency and Raichur Rural constituency. (ANI)