AAP, JD(S), BJD, BRS, Akali Dal not on Congress's invite list for Bharat Jodo Yatra's final event in Srinagar

Veteran leader Sharad Yadav has also been invited, sources said

AAP, JD(S), BRS, BJD, and Akali Dal have not been invited by Congress to the concluding ceremony of 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' in Srinagar on January 30 even as it extended a welcome to 21 'like-minded' parties, which included Trinamool Congress (TMC), Samajwadi Party (SP), and BSP.

The invite to Opposition leaders by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is seen as an attempt by the party to initiate the ground for future conversations ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections while the omissions are said to be due to the party's reservations about these outfits fitting into the scheme of 'Opposition unity'.

Party leaders said the Congress had no option but to exercise its wisdom, as parties like AAP, BRS, and JD(S) were acting against the party. Congress had earlier termed these parties as the 'B-Team' of BJP. Parties like YSR Congress and AIUDF also have not been included in the invitee list.

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On Tuesday, Kharge wrote to presidents of 21 parties inviting them to the culmination of Rahul Gandhi's 3,570-km 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' from Kanyakumari to Kashmir on Mahatma Gandhi's martyrdom day to 'strengthen' the message of unity.

The parties invited to the Srinagar meeting are presidents of TMC, SP, DMK, CPI(M), CPI, JD(U), Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), NCP, JMM, RJD, PDP, National Conference, TDP, BSP, RLSP, HAM, MDMK, VCK, Muslim League, Kerala Congress, and RSP.

Both Lalu Prasad and Tejashwi Yadav from RJD and Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah from National Conference have been invited. Veteran leader Sharad Yadav is also on the invitee list.

While DMK's MK Stalin, who is also Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, had handed over the flag to Rahul in Kanyakumari before the start of the yatra on September 7, no big Opposition leader except for Farooq Abdullah had joined the yatra through middle-level leaders had participated. NCP patriarch Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena's Uddhav Thackeray were to join the yatra in Maharashtra but did not owe to "health reasons".

The latest exercise also comes days after Rahul insisted that Congress need to make non-BJP parties "comfortable and feel respected" though he repeated that regional parties like Samajwadi Party cannot provide a national ideology like the Congress.

He had also refused to make much of the non-participation of leaders like SP's Akhilesh Yadav and BSP's Mayawati during the UP leg of the yatra, saying there could be "political compulsions" but emphasised that they all are on the same page and the idea of "hate-free India".

In his letter, Kharge said Congress has invited the participation of every like-minded Indian to the yatra and MPs of several parties have already walked with Rahul Gandhi. The direct conversation with people has been a "major achievement" of the yatra, he said adding, the yatra has emerged as a "powerful voice" at a time public attention is systematically diverted from people's issues.

"I now invite you to personally join the concluding function of Bharat Jodo Yatra to be held in Srinagar on January 30 at noon. The function is dedicated to the memory of Mahatma Gandhi, who lost his life on this day in his tireless struggle against the ideology of hatred and violence," Kharge said in his letter on Tuesday.

At the event, he said, "They will commit ourselves to fighting hatred and violence, to spread the message of truth, compassion and non-violence and to defend the Constitutional values of liberty, equality and fraternity and justice for all."

In his letter, Kharge said that the yatra has a "very simple and enduring message of harmony and equality", values for which Indians have fought for centuries.

He also said that the country is facing an "economic, social and political crisis" and the yatra is connecting directly with lakhs of people at a time when the Opposition's voice is being suppressed.

Kharge emphasised that "grave" issues affecting the country, which include price rise, unemployment, social divisions, weakening of democratic institutions and threat on borers, are discussed during the yatra. He said that all sections of society have participated in the yatra and shared their problems.