Bhubaneswar: The Congress’s Odisha unit has prepared three routes for senior party leader Rahul Gandhi-led ‘Bharat Nyay Yatra’ that is expected to pass through the state.
State Congress president Sarat Pattanayak said the three proposed routes would be put before the AICC, which would finalise one, considering time, geography and security.
Pattanayak was speaking to reporters before travelling to Delhi to attend the All India Congress Committee (AICC) meeting to discuss strategies for the Lok Sabha elections and the assembly polls in Odisha, which usually coincide, besides the ‘Bharat Nyay Yatra’.
He said that as per schedule Gandhi is likely to travel from West Bengal to Bihar and then to Jharkhand, and from there he will enter Odisha and head to Chhattisgarh.
“If he comes from Jamshedpur, we will propose him to enter Odisha from Balasore and then visit Mayurbhanj, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Ganjam, Koraput, Kalahandi, Bolangir and Nuapada,” Pattanayak said.
Another proposed route starts at Mayurbhanj and then passes through Joda in Keonjhar district and Rourkela in Sundergarh district, he said.
“If Rahul Gandhi plans to enter Odisha from Ranchi, the yatra can pass through Sundergarh, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur and Bargarh. However, we will try to convince the national leadership to choose the first route as it covers maximum parts of the state,” he added.
Pattanayak said that his party was focusing on 110-120 of the 147 assembly seats, in which Congress candidates lost last time by a narrow margin.
He said that the Congress was aiming to win 90 seats in the elections and form the government in Odisha, for which a blueprint will be prepared at the AICC meeting in New Delhi on Thursday.
The Congress has announced the Bharat Nyay Yatra from Manipur to Mumbai, passing through 14 states and 85 districts from the east to the west of India in 67 days, beginning January 14 — an exercise seen as the party’s attempt to rally support ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
PTI
