The Congress party is planning a new march in India from east to west of the country. The announcement of the march was made on the final day of the party's 85th plenary session in Raipur, Chhattisgarh.
The announcement comes after the success of the Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi.
The 4,000-km BJY took place from Kanyakumari to Kashmir but the new march is likely to start from Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh and culminate in Gujarat's Porbandar ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, according to reports.
Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh said that the format of the new march is likely to be different from the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
"There is a lot of enthusiasm and energy. I also think personally it is needed but the format of the east-to-west yatra may turn out to be different from the format of the south-to-north Bharat Jodo Yatra," Ramesh said.
'It would be a padayatra'
It may not have such an elaborate infrastructure that was mobilised for the Bharat Jodo Yatra and may have less yatris, he said.
He said it would largely be a padayatra but there are jungles and rivers on this route. "It would be a multi-modal yatra, but mostly it would be a padayatra," Ramesh said.
New march likely before June
He said that with elections in Karnataka in April, rains from June and again state polls in November, the yatra may have to be undertaken before June or before November.
Ramesh also added that the yatra would be of a shorter duration than the Bharat Jodo Yatra. He said all this will be decided in the next few weeks.
Addressing the Congress plenary session, Gandhi said the party should formulate a new plan to carry forward the "tapasya" undertaken through the Bharat Jodo Yatra and that he along with the entire country will participate in it, indicating another such initiative. (With PTI inputs)
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