Uttar Pradesh unit of the Congress party launched its ‘U.P. Jodo Yatra’ on Wednesday from the Shakumbhari Devi temple in Saharanpur. The Yatra covers the Western U.P. region, which is considered key to the grand old party’s revival in the State due to the favourable social coalition of Muslim-Dalit, once the Congress party’s core voter base and even in 2009 parliamentary election, when Congress showed signs of revival by winning 21 seats out of 80 in the State it succeeded in Moradabad, Bareilly, and Lakhimpur Kheri, the three districts out of 11, through which the Yatra passes and come second on three other seats.
In Moradabad, the Muslim constitutes roughly 47.12%, in Rampur 50.57%, Bijnor 43.04%, Saharanpur 41.95%, Muzaffarnagar 41.3%, Amroha 40.8%, and Bareilly roughly 35% of the total population.
Top State party leaders including U.P. unit chief Ajay Rai, senior MLA Aradhana Mishra ‘Mona’, former Union Minister Pradeep Jain Aditya, former MLA and prominent Muslim face Imran Masood were present on day one of the Yatra, while Deputy leader of Congress in Rajya Sabha Pramod Tiwari is slated to join the Yatra.
