NCP’s Sharad Pawar, Supriya Sule likely to welcome Bharat Jodo Yatra in Maharashtra

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar, and his daughter Supriya Sule, a Lok Sabha MP, are likely to welcome the Bharat Jodo Yatra when it enters Maharashtra on November 9—in what could be seen as a boost for the Indian National Congress.

Sources said Pawar and Sule had expressed their desire to welcome the yatra into the state. This is the second instance of a top Opposition leader getting directly involved with the Congress’s yatra.

Earlier on September 7, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo M K Stalin had handed over the tricolour to Rahul Gandhi in Kanyakumari ahead of the start of the 3,570 km yatra that, as per schedule ends, in Srinagar on January 30 next year.

Pawar’s possible presence is a boost for the Congress, as it is a “Congress party programme” where the intention is not uniting the Opposition but strengthening the party. The Congress had faced criticism from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) when the yatra was traversing Kerala, due to local politics, though the central leadership of the Left party avoided direct attack on the yatra.

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In Kerala, leaders of Revolutionary Socialist Party, Communist Marxist Party and Indian Union Muslim League participated in the yatra; while in Tamil Nadu, VCK’s (Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi) Thol Thirumavalavan was also present when the tricolour was handed over to Rahul.

The yatra has now completed at least 867 km in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. The yatra will enter Andhra Pradesh on October 18 and re-enter Karnataka three days later while it will enter Telangana on October 26 after a two-day Diwali break.

The party is also holding ‘yatras’ in states where the Bharat Jodo Yatra is not going—one started in Jharkhand on Monday, while a 2,300 km yatra in Odisha will start on October 31, and 850 km (Dubri to Satiya) yatra in Assam will start on November 1.

A Kolkata to Siliguri yatra will start on December 28.

While the response to the yatra was as expected in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, sources said, their apprehensions about Karnataka vanished as the party units could mobilise more than expected people.

However, sources said, they are worried about the response in Andhra Pradesh, where Congress’s vote share is less than 2 per cent. “If we are able to get some good crowds in Kurnool, that will be an added advantage,” a senior leader said.