RLD chief Jayant's vacillation may have prompted Akhilesh to join Rahul's Bharat Jodo Nyaya Yatra in UP

Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav's decision to join senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's ongoing 'Bharat Jodo Nyaya Yatra' in Uttar Pradesh after initial refusal, might have been prompted by Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Jayant Chaudhary's vacillation on whether to remain in the I.N.D.I.A. alliance or join hands with the BJP in the state in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections due in two month's time.

According to the SP leaders here, Akhilesh will join Rahul when the latter's Yara enters Raebareli, the Lok Sabha constituency represented by former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, or Amethi, represented by Rahul in the LS till 2019. Rahul had lost to union minister Smriti Irani in the 2019 LS polls.

Barely a few days back, Akhilesh had categorically rejected any possibility of joining Rahul's Yatra and even remarked that he was ''never invited'' by the Congress in its events.

The change of heart, according to the political analysts here, appeared to have been prompted by speculations about RLD joining hands with the BJP leaving its alliance with the SP. ''Jayant Chaudhary appears to be caught in two minds....he is unable to decide whether to continue in the opposition's grand alliance or join the NDA,'' said a Lucknow based political analyst.

Although Akhilesh expressed the hope that Jayant would not ditch the SP, his decision to join the Rahul's Yatra after initial refusal showed that he was not fully sure of the RLD's continuance alliance with his party and that he was preparing for such a possibility. ''Jayant is a wise person...he will take the right decision...he will not weaken the farmers' fight for their dues,'' Akhilesh replied when queried about the speculations that the RLD was in talks with the BJP.

Senior SP leaders Shivpal Singh Yadav and Akhilesh's wife Dimple Yadav also rejected reports that Jayant Chaudhary could walk out of the I.N.D.I.A. alliance. Even senior RLD leader Ramashish Rai rejected these speculations.

RLD sources, however, said that Jayant had received feelers from the BJP and that he was also offered four to five LS seats in the Jat dominated western UP region. Jayant, sources said, was considering the offer.

A senior RLD leader here said that Jayant could also demand 'Bharat Ratna' for former union minister and his grandfather Choudhary Charan Singh besides a few ministerial berths for his party MLAs in the UP government.

SP had contested the 2017 UP assembly polls in alliance with the Congress but both fared dismally in the elections and resulted in their parting of ways.