Lucknow:

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav is unlikely to appear before the CBI on Thursday for questioning in an illegal mining case registered five years ago in which he is a witness, party sources said.

The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister is scheduled to attend a meeting of PDA “Picchda (backward classes), Dalit and Alpsankhyak (minorities)” at the party office and has no plans to go anywhere till now, they said.

In reply to a question, the Samajwadi Party’s backward wing state president Rajpal Kashyap told PTI, “Akhileshji will attend a meeting of PDA at the party office today.” “He is not going anywhere. He will be attending a meeting in Lucknow,” Samajwadi Party spokesperson Rajendra Chowdhury said.

About the CBI notice to Mr Yadav, he said, “I don’t have detailed information regarding this. But it is sure, he is not going to Delhi today.” In a notice issued under section 160 of CrPC, the CBI has asked Yadav to appear before it on February 29, officials said. The section allows a police officer to summon witnesses in a probe.

“He is not the accused. He is a witness,” a senior official in the know of the development had told PTI.

The cases in which Yadav is summoned pertain to the issuance of mining leases in alleged violation of the e-tendering process. The Allahabad High Court had ordered the probe.

It is alleged that public servants allowed illegal mining during 2012-16, the period when Yadav was chief minister, and illegally renewed licences despite a ban on mining by the National Green Tribunal.

Reacting to the notice in the cases registered in 2019, Yadav attacked the BJP, saying, “The SP is on the maximum target (of the BJP). In 2019, I got a notice in some matters as there were Lok Sabha elections then. Now, when the election is approaching again, I am getting a notice again.” “I know, when the election comes, notice will also come. Why this nervousness? If you (BJP) have done a lot of work in the past 10 years, why are you nervous?” he posed.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav today joined Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ in Agra. Several photos highlighting the bonhomie between the two leaders were shared on their and their parties’ social media handle but one photo grabbed most of the spotlight: a selfie featuring Mr Yadav and Mr Gandhi.

The photo was shared on the official X handle of the Congress that used just two emojis two describe the image, a camera and a selfie.

pic.twitter.com/FqIRU2Oo7I

— Congress (@INCIndia) February 25, 2024

In the photo, the leaders were seen posing together on top of a red jeep.

Congress and Samajwadi Party workers raised slogans in support of Mr Yadav and Mr Gandhi as the two leaders, accompanied by Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, waved at the crowd gathered for the yatra.

The development put an end to the days of uncertainty on Akhilesh Yadav’s participation in the yatra and came as a boost to the INDIA bloc that recently saw the finalising of a key seat-sharing deal between the Samajwadi Party and Congress in Uttar Pradesh.

The INDIA “janbandhan” is locked and loaded, ready to dispel the “darkness of the anyay kaal”, the Congress said after the former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh joined the yatra.

The UP boost was followed by a seat-sharing deal between the Congress and Arvind Kejriwal led Aam Aadmi Party or AAP for Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, Goa, Gujarat and Haryana. The AAP has, however, decided to contest separately in Punjab, considering the “special circumstances” in the state.

The troubles for the Congress, however, are far from over as the INDIA bloc still has to work out seat-sharing deals in the key states of West Bengal and Maharashtra.