Akhilesh Yadav 'unlikely' to join Congress' Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Uttar Pradesh

Akhilesh Yadav. Pic/PTI

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, 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, 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, adding that SP was the only party which was fighting to save constitutional values and the constitution.

The state's Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Ajay Rai told PTI 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.

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