AROUND JANUARY 26, BHARAT JODO YATRA WILL ARRIVE IN SRINAGAR: JAIRAM RAMESH

Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra would arrive in Srinagar around January 26, according to party leader Jairam Ramesh.

Jairam Ramesh announced at a press conference: Bharat Jodo Yatra will arrive in Delhi on December 24 and will proceed to Sringar on or about January 26. The flag will be hoisted while Rahul Gandhi is present.

As the Bharat Jodo Yatra is in progress, Congress MP KC Venugopal stated on Sunday that it would not be practical for former party president Rahul Gandhi to attend the winter session of Parliament.

The Winter Session will start on December 7 and run through December 29. Due to the timing of the Gujarat election, the session had to be postponed by a month.

"Bharat Jodo Yatra is underway. It is not practical for Rahul Gandhi to attend the winter session of Parliament," Venugopal said at a press conference here.

He said: We talked about two topics in the Congress Steering Committee meeting today. The first is our party's plenary session, which we have scheduled for the second half of February. The meeting will be conducted in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, for three days, he added.

Second, we reviewed and talked about the Bharat Jodo Yatra's next course of action. We have made the decision to launch the "Hath se Hath Jodo Abhiyan" on January 26. The campaign will last for two months, Venugopal added.

In accordance with this campaign, he continued, block-level yatras would cover all gram panchayats and booths, and the party will deliver a letter from Rahul Gandhi outlining the main message of this yatra. During this block-level yatra, there will be village sabhas and flag-hoisting.

The Indian National Congress Steering Committee convened this morning at 10 a.m. at 24 Akbar Road in New Delhi, with Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge in charge.