Bhubaneswar: Senior Congress leader and AICC General Secretary in charge of Communication Jairam Ramesh on Sunday said the party would start the Bharat Jodo Yatra-Odisha on October 31 from Indira Gandhi Park in Bhubaneswar.
Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee President Sarat Patnaik said the party has planned to cover 2250 KM through Padayatra and cover 20 Parliamentary Constituencies in around 100 days before culminating the Yatra at Bhubaneswar.
Patnaik said the Congress workers will cover around 20 KM daily and apprise the people about the divisive, appeasement and anti-people policies of both BJP and the BJD during the Yatra and strengthened the party organisation in the state.
Patnaik said Panchayat, block, and district level party Coordinators will coordinate the Yatra. Senior national and state-level Party leaders including Jairam Ramesh, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh, all former state party Presidents, former and present MPs, all MLAs and ex-MLAs will join the padayatra.
He said the party has also invited social activists to join the Yatra.
Ramesh described the Bharat Jodo Yatra-Odisha as a transformational Yatra and hoped that the Yatra would bring changes to Odisha.
He said while at the National level, the congress targets the BJP, the RSS and the Prime Minister in Odisha the party will target both the BJP and the BJD during the Yatra.
Ramesh said there is no difference between the BJP and said the BJD and the BJP are two sides of the same coin.
He said while both the BJP and the BJD fight in Odisha they unite in Delhi.
The Congress leader said Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik do sit-ups and downs at the dictate of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He said Bharat Yatra Jodo-Odisha was planned as the state was not covered under Bharat Jodo Yatra led by former Congress President Rahul Gandhi started from Kanyakumari on September 7 last due to geographical constraints.
OPCC President Sarat Patnaik said the BJD government during its 22-year rule and the BJP government at the Centre failed to fulfil their electoral promises.
He said both the parties failed to check the price rise, provide jobs to youths, and provide basic facilities to the people like drinking water.
The BJD, he said also did not oppose while the central government imposed GST on Chuda, gud, and curd consumed by poor people.
