Bharat Jodo Yatra passes through Karnal, Rahul stops to watch Kabaddi match

The Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra passed through Haryana's Karnal district Saturday with scores of people, including Olympic medallist boxer Vijender Singh and senior party leaders Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Randeep Singh Surjewala, joining the Rahul Gandhi-led march.

The Yatra entered the district in the morning from neighbouring Panipat. It halted in Indri here for the night before moving to the Kurukshetra district Sunday morning.

The Kanyakumari to Kashmir march covered over 130 km in its first leg in Haryana from December 21 to 23, passing through Nuh, Gurugram and Faridabad districts. It re-entered Haryana on Thursday evening from Uttar Pradesh.

In the evening, Gandhi watched a Kabaddi match here with senior leaders including Bhupinder Singh Hooda, K C Venugopal, Kumari Selja, and Deepender Singh Hooda accompanying him. The former Congress president later attended a 'havan' organised by the Ror community here.

Earlier in the day, Gandhi also interacted with a group of prominent sportspersons.

Hooda claimed that the Yatra was getting overwhelming support from the public, including farmers, labourers and traders.

When asked about reports of infighting in the Haryana unit of the party, Hooda told reporters, "There is no infighting, the Congress is one."

To a question if the senior leaders who left the party between 2014 and 2019 would be eager to return to the fold after seeing the response the Bharat Jodo Yatra received, he replied, "The Congress is a sea, people keep coming and going."

At this point, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh intervened and said that 17 leaders rejoined the party in Jammu and Kashmir. "They had gone on a two-month leave. One of them has been a deputy chief minister and one was the state unit chief. All returned. You will see this in other states too."

Asked about the possibility of Ghulam Nabi Azad will returning to the Congress, Ramesh said, "If he wants 'Dil ki Azadi and Mann ki Azadi (freedom of heart and mind) then he will definitely return."

Notably, 17 leaders of the newly formed Democratic Azad Party (DAP) in Jammu and Kashmir, including former deputy chief minister Tara Chand and ex-Pradesh Congress Committee chief Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, on Friday returned to the Congress.

Notwithstanding bitter cold and fog, a huge crowd gathered in Karnal to welcome the Bharat Jodo Yatra, a day after a big rally was held in Panipat. As the yatra started from Kohand village in Gharaunda here in the morning, Gandhi shook hands with people and clicked photos with children. He also met a delegation of the OBC community and held discussions with them.

The yatra, which started from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu on September 7, will end with Gandhi hoisting the national flag in Srinagar on January 30. The march has so far covered Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.