Exclusive/ SP-Cong Ties Officially Ending? In Another Jolt to INDI Bloc, Akhilesh Refuses to Join RaGa's Yatra

Lucknow: With the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 around the corner, Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday snubbed the Congress Party by announcing his refusal to join the Rahul Gandhi-led ‘Bharat Jodo ’Nyay' Yatra, in the Hindi heartland of Uttar Pradesh, Republic has learnt. Earlier this month, Yadav had taken a dig at the Rahul Gandhi-led Yatra, claiming that he wasn't invited. 

Pointing towards a deepening rift within the Opposition's Indian National Developmental Inclusive (INDI) Alliance, Yadav had said that many big events take place, but the Samajwadi leader was not invited. “Many big events are organised, but we are not invited,” the SP supremo had said, just days before he was extended an invitation by senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge to join the UP-leg of the yatra.

Noteworthily, amid the visible cracks in the INDI bloc and high drama ensuing on the seat-sharing, Yadav had unilaterally announced 11 seats for the Congress in the upcoming general elections. Multiple reports, however, suggested that the Congress had expressed desire to contest on more seats, and that the two sides were engaged in a discussion. 

Interestingly, in the last Lok Sabha elections, the Congress had contested 67 out of a total of 80 seats, but the party could only win one - the Rae Bareli seat from where Sonia Gandhi had fought. The Samajwadi Party, on the other hand, had contested the polls by forging an alliance with Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and fielding candidates on 37 seats, out of which it won only five.