Rahul Gandhi had knee pain; was about to quit Bharat Jodo Yatra: Cong leader

Now that the Kanyakumari to Kashmir Bharat Jodo Yatra of the Congress led by Rahul Gandhi is successfully over, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal has revealed that it was not very smooth in the beginning as Rahul Gandhi experienced tremendous knee pain on the third day of the yatra when the yatra was in Kerala.

The knee pain was so severe that he even suggested continuing the yatra without him. A call came from Priyanka Gandhi as well, Venugopal said, as quoted by news agency PTI.

“His knee pain had aggravated when the yatra entered Kerala on the third day of its commencement from Kanyakumari. One night, he called me to tell (me) about the severity of his knee pain and suggested to carry out the campaign by replacing him with another leader,” Venugopal said.

“Then came Priyanka Gandhi’s call to inform about the severity of knee pain Rahul suffers. She even thought of suggesting to hand over the campaign to other senior leaders,” the Congress leader said adding that at those anxious moments, he was only seeking divine intervention as the massive yatra was not imaginable without Rahul Gandhi.

A physiotherapist suggested by Rahul Gandhi joined the yatra and under his treatment, the pain was cured, the Congress leader said.

Rahul Gandhi himself talked about his knee problem in Kerala while interacting with the party workers and said whenever he found it difficult he found succour in his party workers and the public.

Bharat Jodo Yatra covered a distance of over 4,000 km in 136 days across 75 districts, 12 states and 2 Union Territories with Rahul Gandhi walking every day except those when the yatra was off.