Congress’ Nyay Yatra to enter J’khand on Friday

PTI, Feb 2, 2024, 10:40 AM IST

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ will enter Jharkhand on Friday afternoon, a party leader said here. The Yatra is expected to enter the state through Pakur district at 2.45 pm from West Bengal, he said. A flag hand-over ceremony will be held at Nasipur More in Pakur after the procession reaches the state and Gandhi will also address a public meeting there, Jharkhand Congress president Rajesh Thakur said. The Yatra will reach Jharkhand on a day when the state will get a new chief minister.

JMM legislative party leader Champai Soren will take oath as the Jharkhand chief minister on Friday.

Champai Soren was nominated for the chief minister’s post on Thursday after he urged the governor to accept his claim to form the government at the earliest as there was ”confusion” in the state which was without a chief minister since the resignation of Hemant Soren on Wednesday, deepening the political crisis.

Notably, JMM executive president Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land fraud after he resigned as Jharkhand chief minister. Thakur whose Congress party is a constituent of the JMM-led majority alliance in the state had on Thursday said the oath-taking ceremony of the new chief minister would be completed before the Nyay Yatra enters the state. ”The Jharkhand leg of Rahul Gandhi’s Nyay Yatra will begin today. This yatra is aimed at ensuring justice to the people of Jharkhand and the country,” Thakur told PTI.

Gandhi will take an evening break at Hiranpur in Pakur and a night halt at Littipara.

The Yatra will be held in two phases, covering 804 km in 13 districts over eight days.

Congress spokesperson Rakesh Sinha said Gandhi would stay in Jharkhand for six days in the first phase and two days in the second one. The date for the second phase of the Yatra is yet to be decided, he said.

The ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’, which started in Manipur on January 14, is scheduled to cover 6,713 km in 67 days, passing through 110 districts in 15 states, before culminating in Mumbai on March 20.