Akhilesh rallies with Rahul; BSP MP Ritesh Pandey moves to BJP

Days after sealing the seat-sharing deal with the Congress in Uttar Pradesh for the coming Lok Sabha polls, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday joined the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi which was passing through the historic city of Taj Mahal.

Enthused workers of the SP and the Congress raised slogans in their support as the two leaders, accompanied by Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, waved at the people who had turned up in good numbers for the yatra. It was Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who had broken the ice between the two parties and helped finalise the deal for seat sharing that gave 17 seats to the Congress and 63 to the SP in UP.

The bonhomie between the SP and the Congress leaders comes as a shot in the arm for the opposition INDIA bloc where constituent parties have gradually come together for seat sharing in the coming general elections in a bid to meet the challenge posed by the dominant ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which is making a bid to return to power at the Centre for the third time in a row.

Attacking the government in his address, Yadav said, “Today, farmers are standing against the government. The government is scared of the power of farmers. In the coming time, the BJP will be removed and the INDIA coalition government will give respect to farmers.”

He added that the BJP has not given the backward classes, Dalits and minority communities the respect they deserve. Earlier, the leaders paid floral tributes at a statue of B R Ambedkar in Agra.

The INDIA “janbandhan” is locked and loaded, ready to dispel the “darkness of the anyay kaal”, the Congress said after SP chief joined the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.

The Congress also clinched a seat-sharing deal with the AAP for Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, Gujarat, Goa and Haryana but decided to contest separately in Punjab, considering the “special circumstances” in the state.

With this, the Congress finalised its seat adjustments for 125 constituencies with INDIA bloc constituents, after finalising a sharing agreement with the SP in UP.

The Congress still has to work out a similar seat-sharing arrangement in Maharashtra and West Bengal.

In a post on X, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said, “Massive, enthusiastic, and energised crowds gathered in Agra to welcome Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, and Akhileh Yadav. The leaders garlanded the statue of Babasaheb Ambedkar before taking out a historic roadshow through the heart of Agra.” The parliamentary constituency of Agra is considered to be an epicentre of Dalit politics in Uttar Pradesh and consists of five assembly seats. It was in 1956 that Dr Ambedkar paid a visit to Agra, receiving a massive response, and the formation of the Republican Party of India (RPI) took place in the city.

“The INDIA janbandhan is locked and loaded, ready to dispel the darkness of the anyay kaal,” Ramesh said.

In another development, ahead of the coming Lok Sabha elections, the Bahujan Samaj Party’s Lok Sabha MP from Ambedkar Nagar Ritesh Pandey who was among select MPs who recently had lunch with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament House canteen resigned from the party’s primary membership and joined the BJP in the national Capital.

In his resignation letter to BSP chief Mayawati, Pandey said he has concluded that the party does not need his service as neither has he been called for meetings for a long time nor has the party leadership spoken to him. He shared his resignation letter on X.

Pandey claimed that he made numerous efforts to get in touch with and meet Mayawati and the top leadership of the party, but it did not yield any result.

“During this time, I continuously met workers and supporters of other parties in my area and was also involved in various works going on in the constituency. Hence, I have concluded that the party does not need my service and presence,” he said.

Pandey joined the BJP in the presence of senior party leaders, including Uttar Pradesh in-charge Baijayant Jay Panda, national general secretary Tarun Chugh, Uttar Pradesh unit chief Bhupendra Singh and Rajya Sabha MP and party’s national media in-charge Anil Baluni.

Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak was also among those present. Welcoming Pandey into the BJP fold, Baluni said a large number of political and social workers want to join the party, impressed by its policies and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.

Pathak, also a former BSP leader and MP, said Pandey has taken a “courageous step” by joining the BJP after seeing the all-round development of the country.

Pandey became an MLA from the Jalalpur Assembly constituency in Ambedkarnagar in 2017 and in entered the Lok Sabha on BSP ticket in 2019.