Rahul Gandhi Bharat Jodo Yatra Live Updates: Congress Lok Sabha MP Jalandhar Santokh Singh Chaudhary passed away after suffering a heart attack on Saturday, while participating in the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Punjab’s Jalandhar. Chaudhary was rushed to a hospital in Phagwara, where he was declared brought dead. It is learnt that Chaudhary came out with Rahul Gandhi from Kusht Ashram in Phillaur when he collapsed, likely due to fatigue. The Yatra has been suspended; Rahul is in the hospital with MLAs Rana Gurjeet Singh and Vijay Inder Singla.
After a one-day break, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi resumed his Bharat Jodo Yatra from Ladhowal Toll Plaza in Ludhiana on Saturday morning. Amid the Punjab leg of the Yatra, the state police Friday issued an alert to the field officers about a threat of hand grenade attacks targeting police vehicles. Though it has no mention of Rahul’s Yatra, The Indian Express has learnt that a letter to this effect was shot off to the top field officers by the office of Punjab Additional Director General of Police (Security) on January 11, the first day of eight-day Punjab leg of the Gandhi scion’s yatra in Punjab.
Meanwhile, the Congress will hold a follow-up programme to the ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra, the ‘Hath se Hath Jodo Yatra‘ from January 26, the party’s general secretary Jairam Ramesh informed on Friday. A letter written by Rahul along with a chargesheet against the Narendra Modi government, will be distributed among the people by party leaders in a door-to-door campaign. As the Yatra reaches its final leg, Congress president Mallikarjun Khrage has written to the heads of 21 like-minded political parties, inviting them to join the concluding function in Srinagar on January 30. The list, according to sources, does not include the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) led by Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao (popularly known as KCR), and Ghulam Nabi Azad’s Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP).
