SP chief Akhilesh to launch ‘PDA yatra’ from Congress bastion Raebareli

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav will launch the party’s ‘PDA Yatra’ from Congress stronghold Raebareli on Thursday as part of preparations for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, a move drawing attention amid growing strains within the SP-Congress alliance.

Lucknow:  Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav is set to kick off the ‘PDA Yatra’ on Thursday from Uttar Pradesh’s Raebareli as part of the party’s campaign for the 2027 Assembly elections in the state.

Akhilesh Yadav will travel in a saffron Rath, specially curated from a bus, as he begins the yatra from Raebareli, a constituency that has traditionally been known as a Congress bastion. His decision to launch the programme from the seat has generated considerable interest in political circles, as Raebareli is the parliamentary constituency represented by Congress leader and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi.

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The Samajwadi Party and Congress are allies in the opposition INDIA bloc.

The latest development comes against the backdrop of the alliance and preparations for the 2027 Assembly elections.

The SP chief had earlier appointed senior party functionaries Indrajeet Saroj and Anand Bhadauria as in-charges of the Amethi and Raebareli parliamentary constituencies — both have long been Congress strongholds.

The appointments were made at a time when the INDIA bloc was firmly in place, and the Samajwadi Party and Congress had agreed to contest elections together as constituents of the opposition alliance.

However, the political equation between the two parties in Uttar Pradesh has since seen signs of strain, as differences emerged over political messaging, leadership and the relative standing of the two parties within the opposition space.

There is currently contention between Samajwadi Party MP Iqra Hasan and Congress MP Imran Masood, with their remarks reflecting the broader differences that have emerged between the allies.

Hasan reportedly said that only SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav is capable of defeating the BJP in Uttar Pradesh and suggested that the Congress could achieve little on its own.

Masood is said to have responded by insisting that Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is the only Opposition leader with a national reach capable of unsettling the BJP.

The signal thus emerging from Uttar Pradesh is that despite repeated assurances from the top leadership of both parties that the alliance remains intact, there is still no consensus on hierarchy, ownership and political primacy within.