Congress leaders of poll-bound states ‘unhappy’ with Rahul’s Yatra

With former president Congress Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ affecting the preparations in the poll-bound states, questions are being raised on the timing of the exercise. This yatra is hardly going to benefit Congress in the poll-bound Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat.
Moreover, the Lok Sabha elections are also far away. So, several Congress leaders from these states are not happy with this event. The Himachal and Gujarat poll results will be declared before the conclusion of this yatra. If Congress again performs badly in these polls, the opposition will get another opportunity to target it.
The party leaders and workers are already disappointed due to several debacles in the past. Observers are of the view that the Congress should have focussed on the state polls to be held in December this year. Even a single electoral victory could have given the Congress much-needed oxygen. Another problem

that the leaders and workers are facing is that they are unable to meet any senior office-bearers at the headquarters as they are absent due to the ongoing yatra. 
The screening committee for Himachal had scheduled a meeting for 15 September in Delhi. Leaders also reached Delhi accordingly, but only to be told that the meeting was postponed. The committee’s chairperson Deepa Dasmunshi’s sickness was cited as the reason for the postponement.
But some say that the Bharat Jodo Yatra is also one of the reasons for postponing this meeting as some senior leaders are busy there. Another reason is that the meeting has been put off owing to the pitrapaksha period. It means that the Congress also believes in practices and traditions related to pitrapaksha. It is said that the party has deferred the date for the presidential election due to pitrapaksha only. The question is whether the party leaders were not aware of the pitrapaksha period before scheduling the meeting. With no seniors available to listen to them, the leaders of the poll-bound states are disappointed.