The Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) plans to invite Rahul Gandhi, All-India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary (Uttar Pradesh in-charge) Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge to lead the Parivartan Yatra to be taken out from Shakumbhari Devi, Saharanpur to Naimisharanya, Sitapur.
The Parivartan Yatra, expected to be launched later this month, is likely to extend for nearly 25 days to connect with the people. With a ‘Soft Hindutva’ agenda in mind, the Yatra is planned to commence and conclude at prominent Hindu religious places.
“We want Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi to visit Saharanpur for the launch of the Parivartan Yatra later this month,” said Imran Masood, a former MLA who joined the Samajwadi Party before the 2022 Assembly elections. He switched to the Bahujan Samaj Party after elections, and returned to the Congress fold following his expulsion from the BSP.
Though senior leaders assert that the yatra will connect with the people of all classes and communities, the origin and culmination points suggest the route has been worked out to give a ‘Hindutva’ push to the event. After Saharanpur, the Parivartan Yatra will cover Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Amroha, Moradabad, Rampur, Bareilly, Shahjahanpur and Kheri before reaching Sitapur.
“We propose to connect with the people of all castes and communities. We will visit all the religious places on the way that may include the ‘dargah’ in Saharanpur, Bareilly and other places,” said UPCC general secretary Anil Yadav.
“We will invite all the senior leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge. We are giving final touches to the route of the yatra and names of leaders who may attend it,” Yadav said.
The Congress has been out of power in the state since 1989. Over the years, it has been making efforts to connect with different sections of society to win back its lost support base. It recently launched Dalit Gaurav Samvad to woo the Dalits on the death anniversary of Bahujan Samaj Party founder Kanshi Ram on October 9. It has also undertaken programmes to woo the backward classes and the Muslims in recent months. The party is a part of INDIA, a bloc of major opposition parties formed ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress entered into electoral alliances with the BSP and the Samajwadi Party in the 1996 and 2017 UP Assembly elections, respectively, but these alliances did not benefit the Congress.
In the 2017 Assembly elections, the party contested 114 seats in alliance with the Samajwadi Party, but it only won seven seats. It secured 6.25 per cent of the total votes polled and 22.09 per cent in the seats it contested. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, it received 6.36 per cent of the votes. However, its performance deteriorated in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections when the party had no alliance with major political players. It won only two seats and managed to secure 2.36 per cent of the votes.
Ajay Rai said the party high command would take a call on the issue of alliance and seat sharing ahead of 2024 polls. He, however, confirmed that the state unit proposed to invite senior leaders for the yatra.