An image tweeted by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh Saturday has the internet ROFL (rolling on the floor laughing, in case you didn’t know)- the picture is of Rahul Gandhi with a goat slung around his shoulders and the caption reads ‘G.O.A.T’, which (those in the know) will tell you is the widely used abbreviation for ‘greatest of all time’.
Rahul Gandhi this week led his party’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ into Telangana, after visiting Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Kerala. The yatra began in Tamil Nadu’s Kanyakumari. Earlier today a video showed the Lok Sabha MP dancing with members of Telangana’s Koya tribe.
“Our tribals are the repositories of our timeless cultures & diversity. Enjoyed matching steps with the Kommu Koya tribal dancers. Their art expresses their values, which we must learn from and preserve,” Gandhi tweeted.
The yatra is in its fourth day in Telangana and is expected to cover a distance of over 20 kilometres today, and will include a roadside meeting at Jadcherla X Road Junction at 7 pm.
The Telangana unit of the Congress has formed 10 special committees to coordinate yatra activities in the state, news agency PTI said.
The pan-India yatra – meant to revive the Congress ahead of critical state elections next year and the Lok Sabha polls in 2024 – will cover 19 assembly and seven parliamentary constituencies in Telangana, whose voters will select a new government in December 2023.
From Telangana the yatra is expected to visit Maharashtra, where Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar has accepted an invitation to march alongside Rahul Gandhi.
The NCP and the Congress were allies in the state’s Maha Vikas Aghadi government (along with the Shiv Sena) that was overthrown after a rebellion by Sena leader Eknath Shinde, who joined hands with the BJP to oust then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.