Here to spread love, says Rahul Gandhi, as Centre lobs Covid question

MUNDAKA BORDER (NUH): On its 105th day, Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra entered Haryana from Rajasthan's Alwar, accompanied by a full parade of the Congress leaderships in both states.
"BJP keeps asking what the purpose of this yatra is and what I'll achieve from it. I have this to tell them, 'Aapki nafrat ke bazar mein mohabbat ki dukaan kholne aaya hoon' (I've come with the message of love in an atmosphere of hatred)," the Congress leader told a large turnout of party workers and supporters as he begun the Haryana leg of the yatra, its ninth state, around 6am on Wednesday.
He was greeted by testing climes.While fog accompanied by a chilly, piercing wind made for a harsh welcome, the yatra suddenly found itself thrown into the spotlight of Covid protocols as a letter from Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya advised Rahul to suspend the rally if adequate prevention measures were not being taken, in the backdrop of the spike in Covid cases in China.
Haryana reported 5 new Covid cases on Wednesday. Its December total is 55, at an average of under 3 cases a day, the lowest since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020.
While senior party leader Jairam Ramesh, who is accompanying Rahul, called the letter a diversionary tactic by that was "scared" because of the "yatra's impact on social media", Rahul described the yatra as his "tapasya (meditation)" that no "shakti (power)" can stop.
Clad in a white T-shirt despite the chill, Rahul said, "I have come to listen to the hurt of the people of Haryana." He added that he would "urge" Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to ask all party leaders to undertake a similar exercise.
"I don't feel tired despite doing a half-marathon every day for the past 100 days. I derive my strength from your love," Rahul said. "The tapasya I'm doing by walking from Kanyakumari to Kashmir is not bigger than the tapasya you all do every day. No 'shakti' (power) can stop this yatra. During this yatra, I have learnt of the chasm between (political) leaders and the public. This yatra is to fill that chasm. The two big issues of this yatra are unemployment and price rise. We do not want this Hindustan in which everything is owned by just two or three people. When we were in office, Modi used to talk about prices of petrol and gas cylinders every day, but now he doesn't," Rahul added, speaking to the gathering at the Mundaka border. From the border, Rahul walked to the Firozpur Jhirka Anaj Mandi, which is 14km away, with supporters lining the road and locals watching on from rooftops. Some perched themselves on trees and the roofs of buses for a vantage view. At various places, the Congress leader was showered with rose petals. He stopped at a local eatery for tea. Among those he met on the first of his three-day rally in Haryana were a group of 30 ex-servicemen. Ramesh later tweeted that they voiced their opposition to the recently introduced Agnipath (tour of duty) scheme for the armed forces.
The rally stopped in the evening at Bhadas Nagina before retiring for the night at Akeda. On Thursday, the yatra will enter Gurgaon in Sohna.
For the deeply faction-ridden state unit of Congress, the yatra was a useful photo-op with former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, senior functionaries Kumari Selja and Ramdeep Singh Surjewala and PCC chief Udai Bhan marching alongside Rahul. Also present was another senior functionary, Kiran Choudhary, who has of late been the subject of speculation about joining BJP (which she has denied). The Rajasthan leadership, including CM Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot, accompanied Rahul till the border.
Multiple power centres that don't see eye to eye have been hurting Congress in elections in Haryana. After the latest setback in the Adampur assembly bypoll earlier this year that BJP won, Selja had publicly hit out at the Hooda camp, blaming the loss on campaign being handled "like one family affair and not as a national party that represents all sections of leadership and ideas". Hooda and his son, MP Deepender Singh Hooda, had spearheaded the campaign.
On Wednesday, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said, "In the first phase of this yatra, Rahul Gandhi is trying to connect with people. In the second phase, we will consolidate the strength of the party and come out as a stronger unit. We have done it before, and we can do it again."