West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Tuesday criticised the ruling TMC for deciding to not join the Bharat Jodo Yatra, despite being invited by Rahul Gandhi.
Chowdhury also said the Bengal leg of the yatra, which will commence on Wednesday, is open to all anti-BJP forces.
"(Senior Congress leader) Rahul Gandhi had invited the Trinamool Congress to be part of the Bharat Jogo Yatra. An invitation letter was sent to their floor leader in Parliament, Sudip Bandyopadhyay. But, they chose not to join.
“However, we from the state Congress have not invited the TMC to participate in our rally," Chowdhury told reporters here.
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He said the WBPCC has not sent invitation for the yatra to the CPI(M) or any other political party either.
"But, our invitation is open to all who believe that there is a need to remove the BJP from power. This is a movement against dictatorship,” he asserted.
The Bharat Jodo Yatra will commence in West Bengal from Wednesday, which also happens to be the foundation day of Congress, from the Kapil Muni Ashram in Gangasagar.
It will travel around 800 km and end at Kalimpong.
The Kanyakumari-to-Kashmir yatra, a mass contact initiative of the Congress that started on September 7, has so far covered several states, including Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
