BJY suspended for 24 hours out of respect for party MP Santokh Choudhary

New Delhi: In honour of party MP Santokh Singh Choudhary, who passed away from a heart attack while on the Bharat Jodo Yatra on Saturday, the Congress cancelled its Punjab-based march for a day.

Rahul Gandhi, the former head of the Congress, also changed the date of his news conference from January 15 in Jalandhar to January 17 in Hoshiarpur.

"Bharat Jodo Yatra will be suspended for 24 hours as a mark of respect for Santokh Singh Choudhary, Congress MP from Jalandhar who passed away this morning.

The Yatra will resume tomorrow afternoon from Khalsa College Ground, Jalandhar," AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on Twitter.

"Due to the unexpected and shocking demise of Santokh Singh Chaudhary, Congress MP from Jalandhar, the press conference of Rahul Gandhi originally scheduled in Jalandhar tomorrow will now be held on 17th January in Hoshiarpur," he said in another tweet.

Choudhary died on Saturday morning after suffering a cardiac arrest during the Bharat Jodo Yatra. He was 76.

The two-time MP was taking part in the Rahul Gandhi-led march in Phillaur in Jalandhar where he fainted, said senior party leader Partap Singh Bajwa, who was also marching with other yatris. Chaudhary was rushed to a hospital in Phagwara in an ambulance where he was declared brought dead.

Later, his body was shifted to his residence. The Bharat Jodo Yatra resumed in Punjab on Saturday after a day's break for Lohri.

With PTI inputs