Akhilesh Yadav explains why he did not attend Cong’s ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ concluding event in Mumbai

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday issued a statement explaining why he could not attend the concluding ceremony of the ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ in Mumbai. In a letter written to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Yadav said that he could not attend the event owing to the Lok Sabha nomination preparations in Uttar Pradesh.

“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 UP from March 20, and owing to its preparations, I will not be able to attend the closing programme of the yatra,” the letter read.

Yadav also congratulated the Congress leader for his “strong determination” to carry out such a Yatra. Calling Gandhi a “rare person”, the SP chief wrote: “You started this yatra from Manipur, which is burning due to the failure of the BJP government. You have given a strong message against the dictator government from the north-east. During the course of the entire yatra, you met (people from) all the sections of the society, including farmers, youngsters, women, elderly and you got acquainted with their problems very closely.”

He added, “…Not only hopeful, but fully confident that the public will uproot and throw out the BJP, which is against the farmers, youngsters, backwards, Dalits and women. The real success of the yatra will be that the BJP gets defeated in these elections.”

Akhilesh Yadav joined Gandhi during the Uttar Pradesh leg of the Yatra in Agra on February 25. This came shortly after the two parties ended their deadlock over seat sharing in Uttar Pradesh and confirmed an alliance. Notably, the SP will contest on 63 seats, while the Congress agreed to fight from 17 constituencies in Uttar Pradesh. According to the seat-sharing formula, the Congress will contest Mathura and Fatehpur Sikri parliamentary seats, while the SP will contest Agra, Firozabad, Mainpuri in Agra Division and Aligarh, Hathras and Etah in the Aligarh division – all the constituencies the ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ passed through.

The ‘Nyay Yatra’, which began in strife-torn Manipur on January 14, concluded on Saturday after 63 days in Mumbai. The event was attended by senior Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Priyanka Gandhi, NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray, and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav.

(With inputs from agencies)