Running out of time, Congress may wrap up road yatra by air

As the Congress party’s Sandesh Yatra is running behind the schedule, it is now contemplating to put the remaining part of the yatra on fast track by using aerial route to reach the destinations.

According to party sources, instead of covering two or three assembly constituencies in a day, the yatra could now be revised to cover four to five constituencies in a day as at this pace it will be impossible to meet the schedule.

This may require chief minister Ashok Gehlot and state unit president Chandrabhan to abandon the roads and take the aerial route to reach the rally venues.

Sources said the state leadership is weighing the option to risk the opportunity to meet a greater number of people in order to meet the yatra target of going to all the 200 constituencies by June 30.

The party plans a big meeting at the conclusion in Jaipur which will be attended by party presdient Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul.

The Congress Sandesh Yatra, which started on March 30, has only covered 79 assembly constituencies till now in the past two months. Visiting the remaining 121 constituencies in less than 30 days appears an onerous task .

In contrast, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party which began its Suraaj Sankalp Yatra on April 4 has already paid a visit to 90 assembly constituencies and covered four of the seven administrative divisions of the state.

Since the BJP yatra will conclude on August 2, it still has two more months in hand to visit the remaining 110 constituencies.

But Congress state spokesperson Kuldeep Sharma said the June 30 deadline was tentative.

“We talked of making an attempt to cover all constituencies by June 30, but it was not a rigid deadline. The party can extend it if required,” he said.

The Congress Sandesh Yatra’s 9th phase of covering three districts ended on June 2 while the 10th phase will begin on June 6.

The party has already launched a parallel mini-Sandesh Yatra at the block
levels.

It is primarily the responsibility of the district and block Congress committee presidents, mayors, zila pramukhs, local legislators and parliamentarians to connect with the electorate.