Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said on Sunday, referring to the Congress’ Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, that his party does not receive invitations for several “big events”, ANI reported.

The Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is a large-scale outreach programme of the Congress led by party leader Rahul Gandhi. He is slated to travel 6,200 kms across 15 states. The march began from Manipur and is presently in Jharkhand.

Yadav, in response to a question from a reporter on whether he would join the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, said: “The trouble is that many big events are organised, but we do not get any invite. How can we ask for an invitation ourselves?”

In response, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said that the route and arrangements for the Uttar Pradesh leg of the march will be finalised in detail in one or two days. “Subsequently, these will be shared with the constituents of the [Opposition] INDIA alliance,” he said on X. “Their participation in the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra will further strengthen the INDIA alliance. We hope that the march enters Uttar Pradesh on the afternoon of February 16.”

The Congress’ ongoing march is similar to its Bharat Jodo Yatra, which started from Kanyakumari on September 7, 2022, and covered over 3,000 kms before concluding in Srinagar on January 30, 2023.

While Yadav did not join the march, he congratulated Gandhi on the “success” of the initiative.