Rahul's 'Nyay Yatra' to enter Gujarat on March 7, cover 7 disTs, 14 LS seats

AHMEDABAD: The Congress' 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' led by party MP Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to enter Gujarat at Jhalod in Dahod district on March 7 and will cover a distance of around 467km during its stay in the BJP-ruled State before entering Maharashtra on March 10, said a functionary on Tuesday.

The 6,700km 'Manipur to Mumbai' yatra, which started on January 14, will pass through seven districts with a sizable tribal population and cover 14 of the 26 Lok Sabha seats during the Gujarat leg, state Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said here.

It will pass through Dahod, Panchmahal, Chhota Udepur, Bharuch, Tapi, Surat and Navsari districts before entering adjoining Maharashtra on the evening of March 10, Doshi said.

The Congress' pre-national election mass outreach campaign, which began from violence-hit Manipur, will pass through 100 Lok Sabha constituencies in 15 states and the Congress believes it will prove as "transformative" as Gandhi's earlier cross-country march (Kanyakumari to Kashmir Bharat Jodo Yatra).

Gujarat is the 14th out of 15 states that the yatra is scheduled to cover after Rajasthan.

During the yatra, Gandhi has been insisting his party will present a new vision for India that will be based on harmony, brotherhood and equitability and will be devoid of hatred, violence and monopoly.

The yatra will traverse 6,713 km with participants travelling mostly in buses and cover 110 districts in 67 days before culminating in Mumbai on March 20 or 21, weeks before the Lok Sabha polls, likely to be held in April-May.

The BJP has described the Gandhi-led campaign as "Bharat Todo Yatra", and said the Congress should first provide justice to leaders deserting it and to people wronged by its past governments.

Days before the yatra enters Gujarat, the Opposition party suffered a jolt on Tuesday when its Rajya Sabha member and former Union minister Naran Rathwa joined the ruling BJP.