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.
Several leaders enquired about the SP’s absence, according to several lawmakers who attended the lunch at Sagar Ratna restaurant on Janpath.
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. 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. The lawmaker added that Akhilesh had been unwell with a high fever since Tuesday evening and had flown back to Lucknow.
Because he had commitments for the Rajya Sabha elections, sP’s Udaiveer Singh said that Akhilesh Yadav had come back on Tuesday night.
“We are a regional party so we have to take care of our commitments in Uttar Pradesh,” he said. Secondly, a small phone call from Kharge ji or any senior leader to SP senior leadership would have coordinated things properly,” the MP said. “Though this won’t affect our alliance in any way, proper communication could have saved the Congress from this embarrassing situation,” he remarked.
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.
