Ayodhya, Sep 25 (IANS) As Samajwadi Party (SP) Chief Akhilesh Yadav began his campaign for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections from Raebareli, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said on Friday that the Rath Yatra could start from anywhere, even from someone’s home, but claimed that Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi was also uneasy as the SP Chief was making inroads into whatever little vote bank the grand old party had left in the state.
Speaking to IANS, BJP MP Ravi Kishan said, “The Rath can start from anywhere, even from someone’s home, but everyone feels that Rahul Gandhi ji has also become uneasy because Akhilesh Yadav ji is making inroads into whatever little Congress vote bank remains. Now, look at their politics. Only they (SP and Congress) and God know what they are doing.”
“Our politics is that of the BJP. Our focus is on how we can win all the seats in Purvanchal and work harder on the seats where we are weaker. We are focusing on that. Their (SP’s) Rath can go anywhere; let it go wherever they want. If their Rath travels all the way to Pakistan, it does not matter to us,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party said that no place belongs to anyone permanently.
SP MP Awadhesh Prasad said, “No place belongs to anyone permanently. It is the grace of the people. Yesterday, the Samajwadi Party, under the leadership of Akhilesh ji, took out a Rath Yatra to Raebareli. We went to the place where injustice and atrocities had taken place and where our elected representative had been insulted.”
“There was no special preparation, and the weather was also not favourable. Despite this, the way a huge crowd gathered surprised everyone. The intentions of those who were with the BJP were completely shaken,” he added.
Meanwhile, Akhilesh Yadav’s decision to begin his (Pichhada, Dalit, and Alpsankhyak) PDA Rath Yatra from Raebareli — the Lok Sabha constituency of senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi — on September 24 has brought the relationship between the two key INDIA bloc allies into focus ahead of the high-stakes Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections scheduled early next year.
Akhilesh’s Rath Yatra, being undertaken in a specially designed bus, is aimed at consolidating the SP’s PDA — social coalition ahead of the Assembly polls scheduled for February 2027.
–IANS
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