Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury flags off Congress Yatra from Ganga Sagar in Bengal

The Bengal leg of the Congress' 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' was flagged off by state party chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury from Ganga Sagar Island in South 24 Parganas district on Wednesday morning.

The yatra which has been renamed as 'Sagar Se Pahar Tak' in the state is scheduled to move through around 800 km in different districts of the state and end at Kurseong in North Bengal on January 23, the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.

West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee chief had criticised the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) for deciding to not join the Bharat Jodo Yatra, despite being invited by Rahul Gandhi.

Chowdhury also said the Bengal leg of the yatra is open to all anti-BJP forces.

"(Senior Congress leader) Rahul Gandhi had invited the Trinamool Congress to be part of the Bharat Jogo Yatra. An invitation letter was sent to their floor leader in Parliament, Sudip Bandyopadhyay. But, they chose not to join.

"However, we from the state Congress have not invited the TMC to participate in our rally," Chowdhury had told reporters in Kolkata on Tuesday.

He said the WBPCC has not sent invitation for the yatra to the CPI(M) or any other political party either.

"But, our invitation is open to all who believe that there is a need to remove the BJP from power. This is a movement against dictatorship," he asserted.

The Kanyakumari-to-Kashmir yatra, a mass contact initiative of the Congress that started on September 7, has so far covered several states, including Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.