Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav will hold a joint road show here tomorrow. This will be the maiden outing of the two leaders since the Congress and SP have stitched up an electoral alliance for the assembly polls.
The two leaders will present the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance as a better alternative than the BJP and pitch themselves as ‘sons of the soil’ as against ‘outsider’ Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The campaign will be launched with a tagline – ‘UP ko ye saath pasand hai’ (UP relishes this alliance), aimed at telling people that the two parties were their choice as they go to vote.
According to Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) spokesman Satyadev Tripathi, besides unveiling a common minimum programme, which will form the basic guideline if the SP-Congress alliance comes to power in the state, the two will also address a joint press conference later in the day.
While the Special Protection Group (SPG), that guards Rahul, has been assessing the route that the road show will take, a nod from the Election Commission is also awaited. According to sources, in case the permission does not come or there is some other security related problem, a rally would be held here.
Strategists in both camps are worried at the lukewarm interest and response shown to the alliance so far. While the announcement of the alliance by their state unit chiefs Naresh Uttam and Raj Babbar did not create enough buzz, even the first three rallies of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in Sultanpur and Lakhimpur Kheri have not gone down too well.
"The biggest challenge before us is to impress upon the people our coming together, which as of now appears to be a daunting task, keeping in mind the lack of time," said a senior Akhilesh aide.
The two sides have, however, expedited work on joint rallies, and Akhilesh and Rahul are likely to address 14 joint rallies. The two are likely to be joined by Kannauj MP Dimple Yadav and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at select places.
The 'raths' and other publicity material of the SP have been improvised and now carry the pictures of Priyanka Gandhi and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi as well.
The SP is contesting 298 seats while 105 seats have been given to the Congress. Both the parties are working on seat- sharing in the Congress bastions of Rae Bareli and Amethi.
Uttar Pradesh will go to polls in seven phases with first phase to be held on February 11. The polling dates for others phases are: February 15, February 19, February 23, February 27, March 4 and March 8. Results will be declared on March 11.
