SP Puts Rider for Joining Rahul's Yatra

NEW DELHI: The Samajwadi Party made it clear that its leader, Akhilesh Yadav, will participate in the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi in Raebareli, but only if the Congress agrees to contest in the 17 seats allocated to it in Uttar Pradesh.

“We have given a final offer of 17 Lok Sabha seats to the Congress. Akhilesh Yadav's participation in the Nyay Yatra in Raebareli on Tuesday will depend on their acceptance,” Rajendra Chaudhary, the Samajwadi Party's chief spokesperson, said.

However, he refused to identify the seats offered to the Congress.

Meanwhile, the SP on Monday declared 11 more candidates from UP for the Lok Sabha elections, including don-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari's brother and BSP MP Afzal Ansari.

The Gandhi-led yatra will pass through Amethi on Monday. It will then enter Raebareli, where the Samajwadi Party chief had earlier said he would join. A Congress statement on Sunday said party chief Mallikarjun Kharge would join the yatra — currently in Pratapgarh — in Amethi.

Earlier, the Samajwadi Party had offered 11 seats to the grand old party while the Congress' state unit demanded a higher allocation.

Ajay Rai, the Congress' Uttar Pradesh unit chief, had earlier said the party should get around two dozen seats it had won in the 2009 general elections.
The Samajwadi Party and the Congress are partners in the Opposition I.N.D.I.A. bloc.

The Congress secured victory only from the Raebareli seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Uttar Pradesh. At 80, the state sends the highest number of MPs to Parliament.