Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will hold a public meeting in Panipat on January 6, a day after the Bharat Jodo Yatra will re-enter Haryana.
Addressing a news conference, Leader of Opposition in the state, Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Thursday said the yatra will enter Haryana from Sanauli Khurd village in Panipat district on January 5 evening. It will cross into Haryana from neighbouring Uttar Pradesh. “On January 6 a public meeting will be held in Panipat,” he said, adding that the yatra will pass through Karnal on January 7 and a day later it will be in Kurukshetra.
The Yatra will take a day’s break on January 10, he said. It will reach Ambala on January 11 and the enter neighboring Punjab, he, said.
Hooda, who was flanked by State Congress chief Udai Bhan, said the yatra is against unemployment, inflation and other issues. “This yatra is also a public awareness campaign against the politics of division as some forces make people fight in the name of caste and religion. This is the reason why the yatra is getting tremendous support from the people,” he said.
Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra will resume from Kashmere Gate in Delhi on January 3 and enter Uttar Pradesh the same afternoon through Loni in Ghaziabad.
The yatra covered over 130 km in the first phase in Haryana between December 21-23 when it passed through Nuh, Gurugram and Faridabad districts.
Meanwhile, Hooda demanded a white paper from the BJP-JJP government in Haryana over “rising debt” of the state. “The government has loans of Rs 3,25,000 crore and liabilities of Rs 1,22,000 crore. The situation has reached a point where the government is taking loans even to pay salaries to the employees. Due to this, there is a delay in getting salary to the employees many times,” he said.
Hooda said the government claims the debt is not this high and gives some other figures. “We demand a white paper over the issue,” he said.
Speaking on the 3-day assembly session which concluded on Wednesday, Hooda said the government was running away from discussion on key issues. “Many calling attention and adjournment motions of the opposition were rejected. This government is shying away from discussion on burning issues,” he said. The former chief minister said that Congress demanded an increase in the price of sugarcane, but this too was rejected by the government.