Congress leaders from Coastal Karnataka want Rahul yatra

MANGALURU:  As Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's ‘Bharat Jodo’ Yatra enters Karnataka, several leaders and party workers in the state's coastal region wished the yatra to cover the communally-sensitive districts in the coastal region.

Rahul Gandhi will enter Karnataka on September 30 and cover 511 km in Karnataka during the 21 days of Yatra. The Padayatra will cover eight districts of Karnataka including Mysuru, Mandya, Chamarajanagara, Bengaluru Rural, Tumkur, Chitradurga, Bellary, and Raichur.

Party workers and leaders of the Coastal region feel that the ‘Bharat Jodo’ Yatra should have been more meaningful if it had traveled through the coastal districts of Karnataka, which are affected by communal incidents regularly.

“Bharat Jodo is a national level programme. It will help in uniting the people and organising the party. We wish it covered our districts too. At a time when communal forces are trying to divide the society, the concept of uniting India is needed. We understand that Rahul Gandhi’s programme cannot be altered now. Hope he will hold a similar yatra in this region,” a senior Congress leader said.  

Meanwhile, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee vice-presidents Ivan D’Souza and PV Mohan, who hail from Mangaluru, have assured to speak to the party leaders and hold a programme focused on the Coastal region.

“It is true that the coastal region in the country — right from Kutch to Kanyakumari — is communally tense and Rahul Ji’s concept of Bharat Jodo needs to be told here. We will tell the party leaders to tour the entire Coastal stretch of the country in the coming days,” P V Mohan told Deccan Chronicle.

With the assembly election fast approaching in Karnataka, the party leaders want party leaders to chalk out a programme in the region to make people understand the contribution of the Congress party to the development of the country. They also want the leaders to strengthen the party organization in the coastal belt which is now considered a bastion of the BJP.

Of the 19 assembly constituencies in the three districts of Coastal Karnataka, Congress has two seats and the remaining 17 are with the BJP.