New Delhi: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav Monday wrote to MP Rahul Gandhi — who is leading Congress’s Bharat Jodo Yatra — to wish him success, as the walkathon enters Uttar Pradesh Tuesday.
In the letter, Yadav — who last week said that he had not received an invite for the Yatra, in spite of the Congress saying otherwise — thanked Gandhi for the invitation.
“Thank you for your invitation to ‘Bharat Jodo’ and congratulations on the success of the ‘Bharat Jodo’ mission,” said Yadav in the letter dated 2 January.
Yadav, however, did not mention if he will join the Yatra or not. Sources in the Samajwadi Party had earlier told ThePrint that Yadav “wasn’t inclined” to walk alongside Gandhi.
“More than a geographic entity, India is an emotion, in which love, non-violence, compassion, co-operation and harmony are the affirmative elements that keep the country together. I hope this Yatra will achieve its goal of protecting this pluralistic culture of our country,” read the letter.
Yadav’s letter came days after he made some scathing comments about the Congress. In a press conference on 29 December, Yadav ruled out an alliance with the Congress.
“The principles of our party are different from them (Congress). For us, BJP and Congress are one,” he had said.
Earlier, he said that it wasn’t about what the Yatra sought to address. “We too have a feeling of ‘Bharat Jodo’, but the question is, who will get rid of the BJP? How will BJP be dethroned?,” Yadav had said.
Responding to Yadav’s comment, Gandhi had, at a press conference in Delhi on 31 December, said that he believed both Yadav and BSP supremo Mayawati wanted an “India of love”.
The Congress has extended invitations to both Mayawati and RLD leader Jayant Chaudhary to join the Yatra.
“But in today’s India, there are compulsions, whether political or otherwise. So, I don’t wish to comment on who’s coming or who’s not,” Gandhi had said.
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