Akhilesh Yadav said he is “unlikely” to attend the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, which was kicked off Sunday by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge from Thoubal, Manipur.

Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra: In an apparent sign of growing differences between INDIA bloc partners, Samajwadi Party (SP) and Congress, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav Wednesday said he is “unlikely” to join the “Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra” as the grand-old party never invites “us to their programmes”.

“Neither the Congress nor the BJP invites us to their programmes,” Akhilesh said while addressing a press conference at Samajwadi Party office in Lucknow after the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister flagged off the SP’s own foot march called “Samvidhan Bachao, Desh Bachao Samajwadi PDA Yatra”.

Akhilesh said the Yatra is aimed to 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, 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.

Yadav said that youths of the state were not getting employed as per their qualification. However, 2024 is the year of change and transformation.

Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra

The SP supremo 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.

Akhilesh also said that he is “unlikely” to attend the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, which was kicked off Sunday (January 14), by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge from Thoubal, Manipur and is being led by former party chief Rahul Gandhi.

The yatra will cover a distance of 6,713 km, straddling 100 Lok Sabha constituencies and 337 assembly segments and covering 110 districts. It will conclude in Mumbai on March 20 after 67 days.

On Wednesday, the yatra reached Nagaland where Gandhi interacted with some bikers on the way in Mokokchung. The Congress-scion was was seen interacting with the bikers and taking note of the tool kit attached to one of the bikes.

Speaking about his conversation with Rahul Gandhi, one of the bikers who is from Assam said that the Congress leader shared his experience about his Ladakh trip on his bike.

“We only talked about motorcycles…He also rides. He is a rider. He has got a bike. We were talking about his bikes. He has got some good ones…We were also talking about his Ladakh trip,” Shahwar Hussain, one of the bikers told news agency ANI.

(With inputs from agencies)