As Congress's 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' led by party leader Rahul Gandhi entered West Bengal on Thursday, workers of the Trinamool Congress showed posters saying 'Bengal main didi kaafi hai'( Didi is enough for Bengal) to the grand old party's convoy in Cooch Behar. This comes after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Wednesday that her party will be contesting Lok Sabha Elections 2024 in the state 'alone'.
On Wednesday, Banerjee took a dig at Congress and said that she had no discussions with them regarding seat sharing in West Bengal. "I have always said that in Bengal, we will fight alone. I am not concerned about what will be done in the country, but we are a secular party, and in Bengal, we will alone defeat the BJP," the Bengal CM said.
Congress' 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' entered West Bengal from Assam on Thursday morning. He was welcomed by state Congress president Adhir Chowdhury. The Yatra entered West Bengal through Bakshirhat in Cooch Behar district in the northern part of the state.
After the handover of the flag, the Yatra will head towards Khagrabari Chowk in Cooch Behar district, where Gandhi will address a public meeting, as reported by news agency PTI. After passing through Tufanganj and Cooch Behar town, Rahul Gandhi is set to conduct a padayatra from Maa Bhawani Chowk in Cooch Behar.
Banerjee had said that Rahul Gandhi's Nyay Yatra is passing through Bengal, but the TMC was not informed about it. On Banerjee's claims of not being informed about the Yatra, Congress General Secretary in-charge Communications, Jairam Ramesh, said, "She had been invited. Mallikarjun Kharge had written a letter to her and also sent her an email. Our leaders—Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi—all of them want leaders from TMC to come and participate in the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. We especially want CM herself to come. Even if that is for 10–15 minutes, Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra will have more impact."
According to PTI, the Yatra will continue by bus at Gokshadanga before reaching Falakata in Alipurduar district for an overnight halt. After a two-day hiatus on January 26-27, the Yatra will navigate through Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Uttar Dinajpur, and Darjeeling districts before entering Bihar on January 29.
The Bengal leg of the yatra spans 523 km across six districts and six Lok Sabha constituencies — Darjeeling, Raigunj, North and South Malda, and two in Murshidabad — over five days, as reported by PTI. This marks Gandhi's first visit to the state since the April-May 2021 assembly polls.