Akhilesh praises Rahul for his strong determination as BJNY concludes

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday congratulated former Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his "strong determination" on the occasion of the conclusion of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, and described him as a "rare person".

Rahul Gandhi concluded his 63-day-old Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Mumbai by paying tributes to Dr B R Ambedkar at his memorial Chaityabhoomi in central Mumbai and reading the Preamble of the Constitution.

On Sunday, Akhilesh Yadav along with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav was scheduled to take part in the event. However, the SP chief did not attend the event.

In a letter dated March 17, written to Gandhi by Yadav, the SP chief said, "Today your Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is concluding in Mumbai. Rare are those people, who can take out such 'yatra'. Heartiest congratulations to you for your strong determination.

"You started this yatra from Manipur, which is burning due to the failure of the BJP government. You have given a strong message against the dictator government from the north-east. During the course of the entire yatra, you met (people from) all the sections of the society, including farmers, youngsters, women, elderly and you got acquainted with their problems very closely," Yadav said.

The SP chief went on to say, "The Election Commission yesterday announced the elections. Nominations will begin in UP from March 20, and owing to its preparations, I will not be able to attend the closing programme of the yatra.

"Not only hopeful, but fully confident that the public will uproot and throw out the BJP, which is against the farmers, youngsters, backwards, Dalits and women. The real success of the yatra will be that the BJP gets defeated in these elections," Yadav said.

The former Congress president was accompanied by his sister and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday.

The yatra, which commenced from strife-torn Manipur on January 14, entered Mumbai from neighbouring Thane on the 63rd day on Saturday.

On February 21, INDIA bloc partners SP and Congress announced a tie-up for the Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, with the UP's main opposition party leaving 17 out of the 80 seats in the state for the ally.

In Madhya Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party will contest on a single seat, Khajuraho, and support the Congress in the remaining constituencies in the state.

Among the 17 seats on which the Congress will contest in UP include Rae Bareli and Amethi, once considered pocket boroughs of the party, and Varanasi which is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency.