Uttar Pradesh opposition parties to shun Rahul's 'Bharat Jodo Yatra'

The Congress had invited several leaders of the non-BJP parties to join the Uttar Pradesh leg of the 'yatra'

Major opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh, including the Samajwadi Party (SP) and BSP, would not be joining the former Congress president Rahul Gandhi's ongoing 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' in the state, dealing a blow to the grand old party's attempts to send a message that the Opposition was united.

According to the leaders of the SP, BSP and some other opposition parties in UP, they were not against the 'yatra' but they would not join the same when it enters the state on January 3. Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), which was an alliance partner of the SP, would also not join the 'yatra'.

A senior SP leader here said on Tuesday that party president Akhilesh Yadav was invited by the Congress to join the 'yatra' but he would not be able to join it in view of his 'preoccupation' with programmes which had already been scheduled.

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An RLD leader also said the same thing when asked if party chief Jayant Chaudhary would join the 'yatra', which would cover only three districts. ''Jayant Chaudhary will be busy with his pre-decided schedule when the yatra will be in the state,'' the RLD leader said.

BSP sources also said that no leader of the party would be part of the 'yatra'.

There was, however, a likelihood of the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP), a predominantly caste-based outfit having considerable clout in the 'Rajbhar' community in the state, joining the Congress's yatra in the state.

SBSP president Om Prakash Rajbhar had earlier praised the 'yatra' and said that it was a ''good initiative''. ''We will discuss our participation in the yatra with senior leaders and take a decision,'' Rajbhar had said.

Congress had invited Akhilesh, Jayant, BSP leader Satish Chandra Mishra, CPI leader Atul Anjan, former minister Shivpal Singh Yadav and Rajbhar to join the yatra in the state.

The political observers here said that the SP, BSP and RLD leaders did not consider the Congress to be a major player in UP and therefore, did not want to be seen to be led by the grand old party in the state.