Akhilesh Yadav's SP skips Kharge's Delhi lunch, senior official blames 'delayed communication'

The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Wednesday skipped the lunch hosted by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for INDIA bloc allies, a day after SP lawmakers tried to form a separate group during the Opposition's march from Parliament to Akashvani Bhavan.

According to several lawmakers who attended the lunch at Sagar Ratna restaurant on Janpath, several leaders enquired about the SP's absence.

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Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and SP leader Akhilesh Yadav had returned to Lucknow after he was released by the Delhi Police following his detention.

Why did SP skip meet?

SP's Udaiveer Singh said that Akhilesh Yadav had come back on Tuesday night because he had commitments for the Rajya Sabha elections. "We are a regional party so we have to take care of our commitments in Uttar Pradesh,'' he said.

However, there were others in the party that expressed some amount of dissatisfaction with the way the protests are being planned. They pointed out that the Congress top brass has kept other INDIA alliance leaders in the dark about how such protests will evolve.

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Akhilesh has been unwell, says another SP leader

Another senior Samajwadi Party MP, speaking on condition of anonymity, attributed the absence primarily to inadequate and delayed communication from the Congress. "The Congress party had sent only a formal letter to the SP office and it arrived late. First of all if this had been communicated properly, many of our MPs who left last evening would have stayed back. Secondly, a small phone call from Kharge ji or any senior leader to SP senior leadership would have coordinated things properly,” the MP said.

The lawmaker added that Akhilesh had been unwell with a high fever since Tuesday evening and had flown back to Lucknow. "Though this won’t affect our alliance in any way, proper communication could have saved the Congress from this embarrassing situation," he remarked.

Second occasion when Akhilesh skipped a INDIA bloc meet

This was the second INDIA bloc event in as many months that Akhilesh missed. At the INDIA bloc meeting on September 29, Yadav did not attend but sent two of his party leaders.

The Congress had clarified that Akhilesh was busy with the nominations for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections to 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh. Surprisingly, Akhilesh decided against fielding a third candidate to force an election against the BJP.

On Tuesday, for most of the march, the Samajwadi Party tried to maintain its own group rather than mingle with other parties, with the Congress playing the leading role.

Before the start of the yatra, SP leaders formed their own group and, during the entire march, remained at the tail end.

When the march stopped near Akashvani Bhavan, Akhilesh quickly formed his own group near the NITI Aayog building. Later, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra brought Yadav into the main group.

The Congress, however, downplayed Akhilesh's absence from the lunch.

Congress communication chief Jairam Ramesh tweeted, "All INDIA janbandhan parties had been invited for today's lunch. But the decision for the lunch had been taken late last night and communicated. It was therefore natural that some parties could not be represented. There is needless comment in some sections of the media on it. INDIA and other Opposition parties are united and stand in solidarity against Vote Chori, SIR and Delimitation."

Two Congress insiders said Akhilesh might be wary of hobnobbing with the Congress ahead of the Uttar Pradesh elections, which are due early next year.

"He might be repositioning ahead of the polls," said a senior Congress leader.

In the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, the Samajwadi Party did not have an alliance with the Congress.

Akhilesh's support to the Opposition is also crucial to preventing the passage of the proposed delimitation-related amendments to the Constitution, which is a key target of the BJP. The ruling dispensation has not yet prorogued the Monsoon Session of Parliament, keeping alive its chances of reintroducing the Delimitation Bill.