The refusal by the opposition parties of Uttar Pradesh to join the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra has exposed the fault lines in opposition parties in the state.

The much-vaunted idea of a united opposition in Uttar Pradesh is going into a tailspin as opposition leaders including Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati and Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Jayant Chaudhary are set to skip the Bharat Jodo Yatra schedule to enter the state on January 3.

The Congress has said it has invited several leaders of non-Bharatiya Janata Party parties in Uttar Pradesh to take part in the yatra, which will pass through three districts in the State -- Ghaziabad, Baghpat and Shamli.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, on Thursday, said he had not received any formal invitation from the Congress to join the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Akhilesh Yadav has sent a clear message that he and his party will not take part in the yatra, which has witnessed participation of non-BJP parties in some states, inspiring a certain level of opposition unity against the BJP.

The SP chief said, “Our emotions are with their yatra but I have not got any invitation for it. The principle of our party is different – the BJP and the Congress are one.”

Sources in the SP however said the party was reluctant to take part in the Bharat Jodo Yatra as Congress like the BJP was also a national party.

“After the repeat performance in sweeping the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, a dominant BJP is asserting its presence in all states of India and has challenged the standard narrative of regional parties being kingmakers in Indian politics,” said a SP leader, adding, “In fact, the rise of Narendra Modi in 2014 has effectively finished any role of the regional parties in the national politics.”

The SP leader maintained, “Congress is no different; if we join hands with the Congress, it will grow in UP only at our cost, so it is not a prudent idea for the SP to have any truck with the Congress.”

Earlier, the Congress, however, claimed that it has invited leaders of several non-BJP parties, including SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, BSP supremo Mayawati and RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary, to take part in the Uttar Pradesh leg of the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

The yatra, a mass contact initiative of the Congress, started from Kanyakumari on September 7 and covered Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi in the first phase. The Bharat Jodo Yatra, which is currently on a winter break, will resume its journey from Delhi on January 3 and enter Uttar Pradesh.

Rajendra Chaudhary, spokesperson for the SP, had earlier said that Yadav was unlikely to take part in the yatra due to his “preoccupation” with party programmes.

“There has been no discussion in the party on the yatra,” Chaudhary had said when asked if any other party leader would take part in Rahul’s yatra.