Rahul Gandhi was joined by legendary actor Kamal Haasan in the Bharat Jodo Yatra, which arrived in Delhi from Haryana on Saturday morning. Haasan, dressed in a black suit, took a break from shooting for his upcoming film "Indian 2" to join the yatra, which began on September 7 in Kanyakumari.
Speaking during the Yatra, Hassan said, "Many people ask me why I'm here. I'm here as an Indian. My father was a Congressman. I had various ideologies & started my own political party but when it comes to the country, all political party lines have to blur. I blurred that line & came here," he was quoted as saying by the news agency ANI.
Apart from Haasan, Gandhi is scheduled to be joined in Delhi by family members of freedom fighters and key Congress officials.
Last week, Haasan told MNM office-bearers that he had been invited by Rahul Gandhi to participate in the Bharat Jodo Yatra on December 24 in the national capital.
"I stood in front of the mirror and told myself that this is the period when the country most needs me. Then a voice inside me said, 'Kamal... don't help break India, rather unite it,'" he added.
Earlier in the day, former party president Sonia Gandhi, her daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren accompanied Rahul Gandhi in the yatra.
Gandhi and her family members walked beside Rahul Gandhi for a little distance till the yatra came to a halt at the Ashram Chowk in Delhi for the morning break.
Sonia Gandhi, the Congress Parliamentary Party's chairperson, has joined the yatra for the second time since it began in September from Kanyakumari. She had already participated in the march in Mandya, Karnataka, in October.
This is the first time the entire family has participated in the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
(With Inputs From Agencies)