Cong turns to civil groups to train cadre; allies hesitant to join Rahul

Some of the key allies of the Congress in the INDIA bloc, including the Trinamool Congress and Samajwadi Party, have said their respective leaderships and workers will stay away from Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.

In a related development, to bolster the party's less-than-robust organisational strength, the Congress has instructed its state units to collaborate with civil society organisations, which have come together under the rubric of ‘Bharat Jodo Abhiyan’ (BJA). The BJA will train workers on conducting the party's door-to-door campaigns in "100 targeted constituencies" across 15 states for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The BJA, a union of activists and civil society outfits, is currently assisting the Congress in organising the Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.

In a letter to the party's state units sent on Monday, Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal asked them "to respond positively to any BJA team approaching you in your state", "designate a point person" to be the interface between the BJA and the party and ask all district units to where "the BJA targeted constituencies fall to collaborate at the ground level". Venugopal urged the party's state units to "ensure an active and fruitful collaboration" with the Bharat Jodo Abhiyan in their respective states.

Meanwhile, some of the INDIA bloc allies of the Congress have either turned down the party's invitations to participate in the Manipur to Mumbai Yatra or expressed their unwillingness to take part in it. On Wednesday, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said he was "unlikely" to join the yatra when it travels through Uttar Pradesh. The 67-day yatra, currently in Nagaland, will spend 11 days in UP.
"Neither the Congress nor the BJP invites us to their programmes," Yadav said in Lucknow and flagged off his party's state-wide yatra.

In Patna, Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar's attendance in the Gandhi-led yatra is uncertain since the Bihar chief minister was upset with allies not honouring his role in shaping the INDIA bloc.
However, on Wednesday, Rashtriya Janata Dal's president, Lalu Prasad, said the seat-sharing talks were progressing. "Do these things take place so quickly? Progress is underway," Prasad replied in response to a query.

The Trinamool Congress has also conveyed to the Congress that it will not participate in the yatra until the seat-sharing discussions remain unresolved. In Maharashtra, in his reply to an invitation from the Congress, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) chief Prakash Ambedkar stated that he would participate if the VBA was invited to join the INDIA bloc and the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance.