Shivamogga, 30 September

The Karnataka Congress on Wednesday launched the 10-day Bharat Jodo Yatra 2.0 in Karnataka to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the Rahul Gandhi-led march undertaken from Kanyakumari to Kashmir.

KPCC President BK Hariprasad said that the date was chosen as Rahul had entered Karnataka on 30 September, 2022 as part of his Bharat Jodo Yatra.

The party decided to commemorate the Bharat Jodo Yatra 2.0 in 84 Assembly constituencies where it lost in the 2023 Assembly elections, and began the campaign from Shikaripura in Shivamogga, which is currently represented by State BJP President BY Vijayendra and was previously represented by his father and former chief minister BS Yediyurappa.

The Karnataka Congress has drawn up this strategy as part of its "Mission 2028", aimed at winning the 2028 Assembly elections in all the 84 constituencies which it had lost in the 2023 election.

The Congress is preparing to hold a 10km padayatra (foot march) in each constituency.

“To commemorate Rahul Gandhi entering Gudlupet, we have decided to launch a 'Janata Jodo' (Uniting people) and 'Janata Jagruti' (public awareness yatra) across Karnataka from Esuru village," he said.

Speaking about Esuru village, Hariprasad said that in 1942, following Mahatma Gandhi's call to the British to 'Quit India', the villagers declared independence from the British and announced that they would not pay taxes under any circumstances. Around five freedom fighters who were at the forefront of that struggle were hanged by the British in 1943 and 60 others jailed, he added.

Hariprasad said that the goal is to raise awareness about the deletion of around 1 crore names from the electoral rolls during the SIR process underway in the State as well as the “conspiracy” of the BJP and RSS against the Constitution.

Ministers Yathindra Siddaramaiah and KS Basavanthappa; All India Congress Committee Secretary Gopinath Pandiyappa, Congress State Working President Manjunath Bhandary, former Lok Sabha member Chandrappa and Legislative Council member Bilkis Banu joined Hariprasad to launch the yatra.