In Rahul Gandhi-Led Protest On SIR, Akhilesh Yadav's Absence Signals A Rift

New Delhi/Lucknow: Samajwadi Party MPs on Wednesday stayed away from Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's lunch meeting for INDIA bloc parties and the Opposition protest that followed, with senior SP sources saying no senior Congress leader had called them, a day after Rahul Gandhi's surprise sit-in at Akashvani Bhawan left allies, including SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, in the dark.The Congress said all INDIA bloc parties had been invited, and that some could not attend because the programme was finalised late on Tuesday night.The two episodes in two days have exposed a lack of coordination between the INDIA bloc's two largest constituents, ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections due in 2027. The Congress and the SP are already engaged in a war of words over seat-sharing in the state, where the SP won 37 of 80 Lok Sabha seats and the Congress six in the 2024 general election as alliance partners. They are hoping to create momentum to potentially defeat the BJP government in UP next year, a key step towards their 2029 target for the Centre.READ | Decoding Akhilesh Yadav's Decision To Skip 3rd Rajya Sabha Candidate'Not Informed' Or 'Short Notice'On Wednesday, senior SP sources first told NDTV that the party did not receive information about Kharge's lunch, though another source separately said that an invitation did come but at very short notice and with no message from the Congress top leadership, so the party skipped it. Either way, the absence was notable.Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a post apparently about this "rift" on X: "All INDIA janbandhan [people's alliance] parties had been invited for today's lunch. But the decision for the lunch had been taken late last night and communicated. It was therefore natural that some parties could not be represented."He further wrote, "There is needless comment in some sections of the media on it. INDIA and other Opposition parties are united and stand in solidarity against Vote Chori, SIR and Delimitation."Akashvani Bhawan ReduxA day earlier, INDIA bloc MPs protested inside Parliament and then marched towards Nirvachan Sadan, the EC office. Police stopped them on the way and detained them. But Rahul Gandhi, and later Priyanka Gandhi, managed to give the cops the slip and entered Akashvani Bhawan, the All India Radio office close to the EC office, accompanied by a few Congress leaders. The sit-in continued till late night, until police detained the leaders and filed an FIR.Sources said Akhilesh Yadav was not informed of the move and left for Lucknow after being released from detention.As word spread that only Congress leaders were on dharna, Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress sent Derek O'Brien to Akashvani Bhawan. Two SP MPs reached the venue late in the evening.Congress leaders, speaking privately, conceded the decision to go to Akashvani Bhawan was taken on the spur of the moment, so allies could not be informed in time, and said they regretted the suspicion it caused.Alliance partners felt the protest had turned into a Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi dharna. Some leaders also questioned the demand to meet the Chief Election Commissioner when the entire protest was directed against the Election Commission and the CEC.Some Congress leaders argued that pre-planned protests were difficult in the present circumstances and that an element of surprise was necessary. They said allies who were not informed in time should join on their own, pointing out that partners had similarly joined later in earlier surprise protests at the Prime Minister's residence and the Parliament Street police station.