LUCKNOW, Jan 17: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday said he is “unlikely” to join Congress’ “Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra” led by Rahul Gandhi.
When asked about this at a press conference at the party office here, Yadav said, “Neither the Congress nor the BJP invites us to their programmes.”
Yadav, who flagged off “Samvidhan Bachao, Desh Bachao Samajwadi PDA Yatra” from the party office here, said that the yatra will spread the ideologies of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia and Mulayam Singh Yadav down to the villages.
PDA stands for Pichada, Dalit, and Alpsankhyak-Muslims (backward, Dalits and minorities, especially Muslims).
“We have taken a pledge to fulfil dreams of old socialists and the yatra will cover many districts of the state. It will attempt to unite backwards, Dalits, minorities and also upper castes,” he said,
He added that the Samajwadi Party was the only party which was fighting to save constitutional values and the constitution.
The state’s Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Ajay Rai said that Rahul Gandhi’s yatra is expected to come to Uttar Pradesh on February 14.
It will spend 11 days in the state and pass through Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency Varanasi, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s constituency Rae Bareli, and Rahul’s former constituency Amethi, currently represented by Union Minister Smriti Irani, among others.
In total, the party will cover 1,074 km in 20 districts of UP.
There is no clarity yet whether SP will have a tie-up with the Congress in UP for the general election or not.
Yadav said that youths of the state were not getting employed as per their qualification.
However, 2024 is the year of change and transformation.
He also tried to corner the BJP government and asked about the Rs 40-lakh crore MOU, which it claimed to have signed in the investor summit, gone as youths were not getting employment.
VBA’s Ambedkar ready to join Yatra if inducted into INDIA bloc
Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi chief Prakash Ambedkar has written to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi stating that he will participate in Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra only if VBA is invited to join the INDIA bloc and the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance.
Ambedkar made his position clear in a letter addressed to Gandhi after the former was invited to join the Yatra, which started from Manipur on Sunday.
He stated the VBA has not been included in the INDI Alliance or the Maha Vikas Aghadi in Maharashtra despite repeated communication with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. (PTI)
