Samajwadi Party (SP) national president Akhilesh Yadav skipped Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s rally in Mumbai on Sunday and cited declaration of the Lok Sabha poll schedule and subsequent preparations as the reason for the decision.
In a letter addressed to Rahul Gandhi, which the Samajwadi Party posted on X, Akhilesh Yadav wrote: “Today, your Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is concluding in Mumbai. Rare are those people, who can take out such ‘yatra’…The Election Commission yesterday announced the elections. Nominations will begin in U.P. from March 20, and owing to its preparations, I will not be able to attend the closing programme of the yatra.”
He started the letter by praising Rahul’s yatra endeavour and also congratulated the Congress leader on his “strong determination” to carry out such a yatra.
Calling Gandhi a “rare person”, the SP chief wrote: “....During the entire yatra, you met (people from) all the sections of the society, including farmers, youngsters, women, and elderly and you got acquainted with their problems very closely.”
An SP spokesperson said: “Akhilesh had consented to attend Rahulji’s rally in Mumbai earlier. But before the event, the poll schedule was declared on Saturday. The party is in the process of finalising candidates on the remaining nearly two dozen seats and working on the nomination process for the first phase candidates. So, he could not go.”
{{/usCountry}}An SP spokesperson said: “Akhilesh had consented to attend Rahulji’s rally in Mumbai earlier. But before the event, the poll schedule was declared on Saturday. The party is in the process of finalising candidates on the remaining nearly two dozen seats and working on the nomination process for the first phase candidates. So, he could not go.”
{{/usCountry}}“Akhileshji had already joined Rahulji’s yatra in Agra late last month and the two will soon be seen together in Uttar Pradesh,” he added.