Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra formally bid farewell to Kerala as he left Manimooli at Vazhikkadavu for Gudalur in Tamil Nadu along with his fellow walkers on Thursday morning. Mr. Gandhi had his final leg of two hours’ walk from Chungathara to Vazhikkadavu in the morning.
Before leaving the State, he said Kerala was his second home. “I was not born here, but I have been shown tremendous love, affection and respect here. Home is where you get love, and Kerala is home for me. No matter how much affection I give, I always receive more in return from the people here. I am forever indebted to them,” he said.
Top State leaders of the Congress, including former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, KPCC president K. Sudhakaran, Opposition Leader V.D. Satheesan, Ramesh Chennithala, M.M. Hasan and K. Muraleedharan accompanied Mr. Gandhi in his last leg of the yatra in Kerala.
Mr. Gandhi said though he suffered from pain in the knees, the people’s warm response had a therapeutic effect on him. “While I walk, I sometimes find it quite difficult because of knee pain. And whenever the pain hurts, suddenly someone comes and the pain disappears. Yesterday, a girl came and gave me a letter. I was in pain and that letter helped me a lot,” Mr. Gandhi said, pulling out the letter from his pocket.
During an informal chat with the State’s Congress leaders, he said: “The championship of walking is between Mr. Hassan and Mr. Muraleedharan. But you (Mr. Muraleedharan) badly fell once.” Everyone laughed.
