Bharat Jodo: Marchers move towards UP to drum beats, patriotic songs

New Delhi: The stretch leading towards Ghaziabad from Kashmiri Gate was decked with tricolour flags and balloons as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra resumed on Tuesday from Delhi.

Scores of Congress leaders and workers gathered at the Hanuman Mandir in Yamuna Bazar, from where the Yatra resumed, holding flags, and banners and chanting slogan "Bharat Jodo." The marchers joined the Yatra with the singing of patriotic songs and beating of drums, as they proceeded towards Uttar Pradesh, where the march is scheduled to reach later in the day.

A huge police force was deployed and roads were intercepted with barricades at several locations to provide the nationwide yatra with a safe passage.

Before it reached the national capital, the foot march covered more than 130 kilometres in Haryana between December 21 and December 23 passing through the Nuh, Gurugram, and Faridabad districts of the state.

A mass contact initiative of the Congress, the Yatra started from Kanyakumari on September 7 and since then has covered Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi in its first phase.

The Yatra will remain in Uttar Pradesh for two days and will enter Haryana's Panipat by Thursday evening.

After traversing Punjab and a day through Himachal Pradesh, the Yatra will enter Jammu and Kashmir, where it will conclude.