Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Congress on Sunday said its newly appointed president Bhakta Charan Das will undertake a Sankalp padayatra from Bhubaneswar to Lord Jagannath Temple in Puri. Addressing a press conference here, Sankalp Padayatra Committee Chairman and former MLA Debashis Patnaik said before taking charge as the new Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee, Das will undertake the 60 km long padayatra from Bhubaneswar to Puri on Tuesday. Giving information on the padayatra, Debashis said the Sankalp Padayatra will start from Biju Patnaik International Airport here on Tuesday at 10 am and cover Shishu Bhavan, Rajmahal, Kalpana, Ravi Talkies Square before reaching Lingipur at 1 pm. After a lunch break, the walk will start again from Lingipur and reach Pipili.

The participants of the padayatra, including Das, will spend the night at Pipili and start the journey on the following day and reach Teisipur. After lunch, they will start again and spend the night in Chandanpur on the way to Puri.

The padayatra will start from Chandanpur on February 20 and after having lunch at ‘Bata Mangala’, in the afternoon, the newly appointed OPCC president Bhakta Charan Das will have a ‘darshan’ of Lord Sri Jagannath and seek his blessings, Debashis said.

“After returning from Jagannath temple, Puri, Das will address the media,” Debashis said, adding that the new OPCC president will not make any political speech until he has ‘darshan’ of Lord Jagannath and sought his blessings.

He said the objective of the padayatra is to establish the Congress as the number one political party in the State and to wish for the progress of Odisha along with the successful transformation of Odisha.