New Delhi, Sep 12 (IANS): The Congress is enthusiastic about the ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra, party General Secretary Jairam Ramesh on Monday said the yatra will strengthen the party and spread it's ideology, and added that 'the elephant has woken up which has surprised BJP'.

Addressing a press conference here, he said, "The elephant has woken up" while referring to the grand old party, which was not visible on the road but the "impact and effect will be seen in due course". He said that the Congress' activeness has surprised the BJP which is spreading rumours and false stories.

He said that though the focus is on Rahul Gandhi, the yatra is the party's programme and all are participants. While responding to pastor's comment, he said, "We do not subscribe his views, but the RSS is rumour spreading society and the party."

Ramesh said, "people who were responsible for the killing of Mahatma Gandhi and the murders of people like Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, M.M. Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh are raising questions! What a morbid joke! Such attempts to damage the spirit of #BharatJodoYatra will fail miserably! An atrocious tweet from the BJP hate factory is doing the rounds. It bears no relation whatsoever to what is recorded in the audio. This is typical BJP mischief that has become more desperate after the successful launch of #BharatJodoYatra which is evoking such a huge response."

He said the BJP was not used to aggressive response from the Congress, but now if they indulge in mischief they will get a befitting response, he said.

He said that the Congress yatra has got a good response in the last five days and it has got widespread media coverage. He thanked the media also for the spotlight.

The yatra will be in Kerala till September 30 and will enter Karnataka on October 1.