Samajwadi Party chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minisyer Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday said that he has not received any invitation to join Congress’ Bharat Jodo Yatra and compared the Indian National Congress to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
“Our party’s principles are different. The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress are one and the same,” Yadav said in response to a question at a press conference on whether he would take part in the Congress Yatra.
Yadav also asked a journalist who inquired him about the Bharat Jodo Yatra: “If you have an invitation on your phone, please send it to me at once.”
This is the first time Yadav comparing the grant old party to the Hindutva party. The Samajwadi Party had allied with the Congress ahead of the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. However, the two parties did not continue their alliance in the 2022 Assembly polls.
Several Opposition leaders, including MK Stalin from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Aaditya Thackeray from the Shiv Sena and actor turned politician Kamal Haasan from the Makkal Needhi Maiam, have joined the Rahul Gandhi led Yatra for brief periods of time.
