Gundlupet wears festive look as Bharat Jodo Yatra enters Karnataka

Gundlupet town in Chamarajanagar district bordering Tamil Nadu on Nilgiri Road wore a festive look as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra entered Karnataka after a tour of Tamil Nadu and Kerala on Friday.

All roads in Gundlupet town were adorned with posters, flex boards and flags of Congress, as party leaders and workers dawned on the town. The event had to be delayed by 55 minutes as busses ferrying party workers had been stopped in neighbouring villages due to security reasons.

The 150-day, 3,500-km Kanyakumari to Srinagar padayatra will cover 511 km in 21 days. It was launched at Kanyakumari on September 8.

While KPCC president D K Shivakumar and his brother and MP D K Suresh were managing the dais and issuing directions to the security personnel, coordinators, leaders and party workers, Opposition Leader Siddaramaiah entered the venue of the public function, a private land in Gundlupet town, along with Rahul Gandhi.

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Rahul held hands with both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar while playing the drum, to mark the inauguration of the public function. The legislative party leader of Congress from Tamil Nadu handed over the national flag to Rahul Gandhi.

National leaders like Jairam Ramesh and Randeep Surjewala and state leaders like B K Hariprasad, Veerappa Moily, K H Muniyappa were also present.

Rahul will visit Badanavalu, a khadi village in Nanjangud on October 2 to mark Gandhi Jayanthi. Mahatma Gandhi had visited Badanavalu in 1932. He will tour Karnataka for 22 days.

In an open letter, Shivakumar invited citizens to take part in the “historic” Bharat Jodo march. “Let me warn you that it will be no picnic,” he said. “We will walk 20 km a day no matter how the weather is. We will meet people from all walks of life who will give us their love, but we will also get to see their suffering.”