Mumbai: NCP chief Sharad Pawar not to join Congress's Bharat Jodo Yatra on November 11

Sharad Pawar. File Photo

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar will not join the Congress's Bharat Jodo Yatra on November 11 as he is in the hospital right now, said Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh on Thursday.

"NCP chief Sharad Pawar is in hospital, Rahul Gandhi and I talked to him. The doctor has recommended a 3-4-week rest. Hence, Sharad Pawar will not be joining the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' tomorrow," Jairam Ramesh said.

However, former Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray will join the yatra.

NCP's Jayant Patil, Supriya Sule and Jitendra Awhad have joined today.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra entered its Maharashtra leg on Monday evening.

Rahul Gandhi will travel through 15 Assembly and 6 parliamentary constituencies in five districts of Maharashtra in 15 days and cover a distance of 382 kms.

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The yatra has already covered parts of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.

Bharat Jodo Yatra, which began on September 7 from Kanyakumari, will cover a further distance of 2,355 km in its 3,570-km march. It will end in Kashmir next year.

It is the longest march on foot by any Indian politician in the history of India, the Congress claimed earlier in a statement.Bharat Jodo Yatra is getting support from various political parties and social organizations across the country and the response is increasing day by day. In Maharashtra too, the NCP and Shiv Sena (Thackeray faction) have agreed to participate in the yatra, adding to its importance.

Notably, all the party MPs, leaders and workers along with Rahul Gandhi are staying in containers. Sleeping beds, toilets and ACs are also installed in some of the containers. The arrangements have been made keeping in view the intense heat and humidity with the change of places.The Congress suffered a debacle in the assembly polls held earlier this year and the Yatra is seen as an attempt to rally the party rank and file for the upcoming electoral battles.

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