Loni (UP), Jan 3 (IANS): As the Bharat Jodo Yatra entered Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday, AICC General Secretary in-charge of UP, Priyanka Gandhi, welcomed the Yatra at the Loni border and called his elder brother Rahul Gandhi a 'fighter'.

Addressing the Yatra, Priyanka Gandhi said, "I'm proud of my elder brother. People are raising questions about his security, but God will keep him safe as he is fighting for the country and is on the path of truth."

She said that as the Yatra moves towards Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, people should remember that unity is key to development.

"The BJP spent spent crores of rupees to tarnish his (Rahul Gandhi's) image, but nobody can buy my brother," she said.

From Uttar Pradesh, the Yatra will be proceed to Haryana (January 6-10), Punjab (January 11-20), spend a day in between in Himachal Pradesh (January 19), before moving towards its last leg in Jammu and Kashmir on the evening of January 20.

The Yatra will culminate in Srinagar on January 30 with the hoisting of the national flag.

The Yatra has covered 3,122 km so far, from Gandhi Mandapam in Kanyakumari to the Red Fort in Delhi.

Over the course of 108 days, the Yatra has covered 49 districts in nine states and one Union Territory -- Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi.