Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi hospitalised, delays joining BJNY in UP

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said that she has been admitted to hospital due to an illness and hence would not join the party's Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra (BJNY) on Friday, 16 February.

She sent her best wishes to her brother Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders for the Nyay Yatra and said she would join them as soon as she felt better. The Rahul Gandhi-led yatra is set to enter Uttar Pradesh late on Friday evening.

Priyanka was supposed to join her brother at Chandauli in Uttar Pradesh after the yatra entered the state from Bihar, sources said.

"I was eagerly waiting for the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra to reach Uttar Pradesh. But due to an illness, I had to be admitted to the hospital today itself. I will join the Yatra as soon as I feel better.

"Till then, I give my best wishes to all the Yatris -- my dear brother and my colleagues from Uttar Pradesh, who are diligently preparing for the journey -- reaching Chandauli-Banaras," Vadra said in a post in Hindi on X.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi is leading the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from Manipur to Mumbai. The yatra is currently passing through Bihar. Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge addressed a mega rally in Bihar's Aurangabad on Thursday.

On Friday evening, the yatra will be in Uttar Pradesh, the key Hindi heartland state that sends the maximum number of MPs to the Lok Sabha. It will traverse through the state from 16 to 21 February and then again on 24 and 25 February. According to the Congress, 22 and 23 February are rest days for the yatra.

The East-West Manipur-Mumbai Yatra traverses 6,700 km through 15 states and aims to highlight the message of nyay (justice) while meeting common people on the way.