Raebareli/Lucknow: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav’s decision to begin his latest political outreach from Raebareli has brought the spotlight back on the evolving dynamics between the SP and Congress ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
Yadav travelled from Lucknow to Raebareli aboard his new PDA Rath and addressed party workers and supporters at the Government Inter College ground. The choice of Raebareli is politically significant as the district remains closely associated with the Congress and the Gandhi family, while the SP also has a substantial electoral presence in several Assembly constituencies.
In the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the Samajwadi Party won four of Raebareli’s six Assembly seats — Bachhrawan, Harchandpur, Sareni and Unchahar. However, Unchahar MLA Manoj Kumar Pandey subsequently joined the BJP. The SP currently has three MLAs in the district.
The visit also comes amid discussions over seat-sharing between the SP and Congress for the 2027 Assembly polls. Both parties are constituents of the INDIA bloc, but the distribution of Assembly seats is expected to remain an important issue in their electoral preparations. Yadav’s decision to launch his campaign activity from a Congress stronghold is consequently being viewed in the context of the negotiations between the two parties.
The SP has framed the Rath Yatra around its PDA strategy, referring to backward classes, Dalits and minorities. During his Raebareli programme, Yadav highlighted issues concerning these communities and targeted the BJP government over what he described as political and administrative pressure on PDA sections.
His visit also followed a recent confrontation at Firoz Gandhi Degree College involving Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha and ABVP workers. The incident subsequently became a political issue, with allegations and counter-allegations involving party workers, local leaders and the police.
Yadav also met Harchandpur MLA Rahul Rajpoot (Lodhi) during the visit, highlighting the SP’s effort to broaden its social outreach beyond its traditional support base. The party has increasingly focused on bringing non-Yadav OBC communities and Dalit groups into its organisational and electoral framework.
The BJP responded by criticising the SP chief’s Rath Yatra and questioning the political messaging behind his Raebareli visit. BJP leaders also targeted the SP over its PDA campaign and raised questions about Yadav’s political outreach to different communities.
Rath yatras have previously featured prominently in Yadav’s electoral campaigns. The SP’s 2011 Kranti Rath Yatra preceded its victory in the 2012 Assembly elections, while subsequent Rath Yatras in 2016 and 2021-22 produced different electoral outcomes. The campaigns have nevertheless remained an important part of the party’s political mobilisation strategy.
The Raebareli programme has thus brought organisational mobilisation, the PDA strategy and SP-Congress seat-sharing discussions into the same political frame. With the 2027 Assembly election still months away, the impact of the Rath Yatra will depend on how effectively the SP converts its campaign messaging into grassroots organisation and constituency-level support.
