Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Nyay Yatra’ To Enter Bengal Today, Mamata Says 'Not Aware Of It'

Amid political ripples within the INDIA bloc alliance following Mamata Banerjee's announcement that the TMC will contest alone in the next Lok Sabha polls, the Congress 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra,' led by Rahul Gandhi, will enter West Bengal from Assam on Thursday.

The Congress and the TMC are both members of the INDIA bloc, formed to challenge the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in the upcoming 2024 Parliamentary elections. The Yatra is set to commence its journey into West Bengal through Bakshirhat in the Cooch Behar district in the northern region of the state.

After a two-day break on January 26-27, the journey will progress through Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Uttar Dinajpur, and Darjeeling districts before reaching Bihar on January 29.

Re-entering West Bengal on January 31 through Malda, the route will traverse Murshidabad, districts where Congress has a strong presence, before exiting the state on February 1.

However, the West Bengal Chief Minister has said that she has not been informed about the 'yatra' entering Bengal. "They did not even bother to inform me that they will be coming to West Bengal as a matter of courtesy even though I am a part of the INDIA bloc. So there is no with relation with me as far as Bengal is concerned," ANI quoted Mamata Banerjee as saying.

"We will decide on what to do at the all-India level. We are a secular party. We will do whatever we can to defeat the BJP. The alliance does not comprise any one party. We have said that they should fight in some states and the regional parties should be left to fight alone in the other states. They should not interfere" she added.

The rift between Trinamool and the Congress escalated following Congress state unit chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury's comments on the Bengal CM.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Adhir Chowdhury claimed that Mamata Banerjee ascended to power in the 2011 elections with the support of the Congress. A day later, the Bengal CM announced that the TMC would go solo in the state.

"I had given them (Congress) a proposal (on seat sharing) but they refused it at the outset. Our party has now decided to go alone in Bengal," Banerjee said. amid the seat-sharing tussle between the Congress and the TMC. The CM also asserted that she has not spoken to anyone in the Congress on the seat-sharing issue.

Coming back to 'yatra', which started in Manipur on January 14, is scheduled to cover 6,713 km in 67 days. It will pass through 110 districts in 15 states, before culminating in Mumbai on March 20.

Covering a distance of 523 km in the Bengal segment, the yatra extends across six districts and encompasses six Lok Sabha constituencies: Darjeeling, Raigunj, North and South Malda, and two in Murshidabad, spanning a duration of five days.