Bandi on 40-km ‘Anjanna Ashirvada Yatra’ on March 14

KARIMNAGAR: Union minister of state for home affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar will undertake a 40-km spiritual walk, ‘Anjanna Ashirvada Yatra’, on March 14 from Karimnagar to the Kondagattu Sri Anjaneya Swamy temple in Jagtial district, along with nearly 10,000 BJP workers and newly elected local representatives, to offer prayers after the party’s recent electoral gains in the region.

The yatra is being organised as a thanksgiving gesture following the BJP’s performance in the municipal and panchayat elections. During the campaign, Bandi Sanjay had said he would walk to the hilltop shrine if voters in Karimnagar gave the BJP the mayor’s post and control of other local bodies.

With the party securing the mayor and deputy mayor posts, besides winning a significant number of corporator and sarpanch positions, the minister is now set to fulfil that vow.

The walkathon will begin at 7 am from the Mahashakti Temple in Karimnagar and is expected to conclude at Kondagattu by 4 pm. The route will pass through Rekurthi, Kothapalli, Gangadhara, Pudur, Kodimyal and Malyala.

Organisers said villagers and supporters were preparing to welcome the participants with flower petals and traditional ‘Mangala Harathi’ along the route. A special organising committee has been constituted under the leadership of Dr Gangidi Manohar Reddy and other senior district leaders for the event.

Despite the political backdrop to the yatra, organisers said it would be conducted in a spiritual atmosphere with devotional songs and traditional drum beats (dappu), and without political slogans.

Volunteers and local NGOs have made arrangements for drinking water, buttermilk and food packets at various points along the 40-km route in view of the summer heat and the large number of participants expected to join the march.