He was addressing a gathering at Shahid Smarak in Lucknow on the conclusion of the 18-day UP Jodo Yatra taken out by the Uttar Pradesh Congress. This was Pande’s maiden visit to the state after taking over his new responsibility. The last leg of the yatra covered the distance from the state capital’s Rakabganj to Shahid Smarak where Pande joined it.
“It’s time to stand together against the unannounced Emergency in the country under the BJP government,” said Pande, who has replaced Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as Congress general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh.
“After this yatra of yours, the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra of senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is beginning on January 14. We all have to participate in that yatra and make it successful. And we have to make this fight for democratic ideology reach the public. All the issues and problems that the U.P. Jodo Yatra has witnessed and recorded will be given to the Yogi government with the demand for immediate redressal,” UP Congress spokesperson CP Rai quoted Pande as saying.
Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Rai paticipated in the entire yatra from Saharanpur on December 20 till it ended on Saturday at Shahid Smarak, CP Rai added.
“This yatra would not have been possible without the participation of the ‘yatris’ and encouragement of all Congress persons,” he quoted Ajay Rai as saying.
Former union minister Salman Khursheed said: “This country’s actual identity is its Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb”.
Congress Rajya Sabha member and former minister Pramod Tiwari said: “We all have to work on a war footing and make the organisation strong to win the 2024 polls”.
Former MP PL Punia said: “We have now got a committed and struggle oriented president (Ajay Rai) and we have to cooperate with him to make the organsiation strong in the state”.
Congress national spokesperson Supriya Shrinete said: “This is not the end of the yatra, rather a new start as it will convert into Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra and this struggle will continue”.
Congress Legislature Party leader Aradhana Mishra Mona said: “The Congress is a party of struggle and sacrifice.”
Party MLA Virendra Chaudhary and the national secretary and co-inchrage Dhiraj Gurjar also addressed the gathering.Prominent participants in the yatra included national spokesperson Akhilesh Pratap Singh, Ajay Kumar Lallu, Rajesh Mishra, Zafar Ali Naqvi, Rashid Alvi, Kamal Kishore Commando, Naseemuddin Sidiqui, Nakul Dubey and Shyam Kishore Shukla.
