Rahul Gandhi may skip Lalu Yadav's anti-BJP rally in Patna

The Bahujan Samaj Party on Thursday said it will not join the August 27 rally -- Bhajpa Bhagao, Desh Bachao -- in Patna.

New Delhi: A day after BSP supremo Mayawati announced that her party will not participate in Lalu Prasad Yadav's 'Desh Bachao, Bhajpa Bhagao' rally on August 27, it is being learnt that Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi may too skip the event.

The Gandhi scion may skip the rally as he is travelling to Norway.

"On the invitation of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will be travelling to Oslo for a few days," Gandhi tweeted on Friday.

"Looking forward to meeting and exchanging ideas with political and business leaders and research institutions," his another tweet said.

BSP president Mayawati on Thursday said that though her party is a votary of unity among secular parties, but it will not take part in the rally.

"BSP has clearly told the RJD that it will share the dais with any regional or national party only when it is decided beforehand on how many seats will go to which party in the secular alliance...Before finalising any secular programme the policy and principle of seat sharing should be decided (first) as the life of an alliance is dependent on it and all should get respectable number of seats," she told newspersons in Lucknow.

At the time of announcing the 'oust BJP rally' at the Gandhi Maidan, the RJD chief had said that he would bring Mayawati and Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav together on one platform, which would mean the "end of the match for the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls".

Interestingly, Mayawati's statement comes a day after Lalu claimed that BSP MP Satish Chandra would be representing his party at the much-talked about rally.

Akhilesh Yadav is flying to Patna on August 27 to attend and address the rally, said party chief spokesman Rajendra Choudhary.

The RJD chief said on Wednesday that senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and CP Joshi would attend the rally with a message from Sonia.

On the other hand, he claimed that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and rebel JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav would attend the RJD rally.

The RJD chief is criss-crossing the state to mobilise people for the August 27 rally, which he has claimed would be a major occasion to bring together the secular forces on one platform against the BJP ahead of the 2019 polls.