Rahul Gandhi's 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' enters Bihar day after former ally Nitish Kumar rejoins BJP

Rahul Gandhi. File Pic/PTI

Rahul Gandhi led Congress' 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' on Monday entered the current politically heated state, Bihar. The yatra has entered through Kishanganj, a day after the Congress was left high and dry with former ally Nitish Kumar, the Bihar chief minister. Nitish Kumar made a return to the Bhartiya Janata Party led NDA on Sunday and also took the oath ninth time as chief minister of Bihar.

Kishanganj, a district in the Seemanchal region of the state, holds a majority Muslim population and is also a Congress stronghold. State Congress president Akhilesh Prasad Singh and other senior party leaders welcomed Rahul Gandhi in Bihar. This is Gandhi's first visit to Bihar since the assembly poll campaign of 2020.

Gandhi is expected to address a public meeting in Kishanganj and a big rally in the adjoining district of Purnea during his yatra in Bihar. According to leaders of the state Congress, the party's alliance partners in Bihar like RJD president Lalu Prasad and CPI(ML)-L general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya have been invited to the rally at Purnea.

Nitish Kumar, the JD(U) president with whom the Congress had shared power till he did a volte-face on Sunday, was also extended an invitation which had been accepted by the veteran leader, the Congress claimed, as per PTI report.

PTI report adds that, Rahul Gandhi will be leave for West Bengal on Thursday through Araria district and will return to Bihar a few days later via Jharkhand.

Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi-led ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' resumed from West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district on Sunday after a two-day break. Rahul Gandhi on Sunday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre of spreading hatred and violence across the nation. Speaking during the "Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra" he asserted that the government is prioritizing the interests of big corporations over those of the poor and the youth.

On the other hand, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said he will soon share the name and address of the "body double" purportedly used by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Assam. The yatra was in Assam last week under a high drama. An FIR was registered against Gandhi and others over the incident where Congress leaders and workers broke police barricades erected to prevent them from entering the main city limits of Guwahati.

Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra led by Gandhi started from Manipur on January 14 and will end in Mumbai on March 20.

(With PTI Inputs)