Bharat Jodo Yatra enters 11th day

HARIPAD: The Congress party's Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi resumed its journey on Sunday from Kerala's Haripad with hundreds of party workers and leaders accompanying it.

The yatra, which entered its 11th day, started shortly after 6.30 AM and senior leaders including Ramesh Chennithala, K Muraleedharan, Kodikunnil Suresh, K C Venugopal and Leader of Opposition, V D Satheesan are walking beside Gandhi in the 13 km-long first leg of the march.

Gandhi was seen breaking security cordon in between to meet people waiting on both sides of the road. After walking for over one hour, he took a break to have tea from a hotel along the route. The Congress party said the morning session of the yatra will conclude once it reaches Ottappana and the members will rest at Karuvatta nearby.

According to the schedule, the yatra will resume at 5 PM from Purakkad which is 6.5 km away from Karuvatta and Gandhi and the yatra members will be travelling that distance by vehicle.

The evening session is scheduled to end at 7 PM near T D Medical College Hospital, Vandanam. The yatra will be covering 7.5 km in the evening leg. The yatra members will be halting at Carmel College of Engineering and Technology, Punnapra, which is 3.4 km away.

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh tweeted that Gandhi will be meeting the farmers of Kuttanad during the morning break.

''Day 11 of #BharatJodoYatra started at 630 am from Haripad today. Bharat & Pradesh Yatris will walk a distance of 13 kms and halt for the morning break at the Sree Kuruttu Bhagavathi Temple in Ottappana. Interaction with farmers from Kuttanad & the neighbouring district thereafter,'' Ramesh tweeted.

On Saturday, Gandhi had lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over rising prices and unemployment in the country and said instead of releasing cheetahs, he should spend his time resolving unemployment crisis and issues related to increase in price of essential goods.

The Congress party's 3,570 km and 150-day long foot march started from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu on September 7 and will conclude in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra, which entered Kerala on September 10 evening, would traverse through the state covering 450 km, touching seven districts over a period of 19 days before entering Karnataka on October 1.