TNI Bureau: The Congress will launch the second phase of its statewide padayatra in Odisha from January 30, with the aim of strengthening the party at the grassroots level and mobilising public support against the Centre’s policies.

The padayatra will be led by Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Bhakta Charan Das and will begin from Malkangiri. The programme will be held under the banner of “Gandhi Pathe Odisha”, party sources said.

As part of the initiative, the Congress will undertake a 20-kilometre padayatra in each district of the state. The party said the campaign is intended to unify Congress leaders and workers and reinforce the organisation from the grassroots. Party leaders said the march would be a united people’s movement for justice, constitutional values, and the rights of Odisha’s poor, farmers, youth and workers.

During the padayatra, Congress leaders and workers will interact directly with people to understand their problems and raise issues related to farmers’ distress, the deteriorating law and order situation in the state, and alleged irregularities in the power sector.

The party will also seek to create public awareness over what it termed as the Centre’s “disrespect” towards Mahatma Gandhi, particularly over changes related to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). Congress leaders will also highlight what they describe as arbitrary decisions taken by the Union government.

The first phase of the Gandhi Pathe Odisha padayatra had begun earlier but was temporarily halted due to the Nuapada Assembly by-election.

The Congress said it would raise its voice against the policies of the BJP-led central government and protest what it described as Odisha’s backward slide 18 months after the formation of the BJP government. The padayatra will also be used to exert pressure on the government by highlighting public grievances, party leaders said.