Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday said that he will take a decision on whether to join Congress Bharat Jodo Yatra after discussing the “invitation” with his party.

Yadav said that he has got an invitation from the grand old party to join the yatra. “Congress’ invitation has come. I will discuss with the party and then decide,” Akhilesh said addressing a press conference on Thursday.

Meanwhile, hitting out at the Bharatiya Janata Party over the launch of the world’s longest river cruise, MV Ganga Vilas and the inauguration of a Tent City, Yadav said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s only motive is to earn money by converting religious places into a tourist spot.

“People used to attain spiritual knowledge in Varanasi in the last phase of their lives, but BJP is making this arrangement for earning money by promoting tourism. What are the Nishads who steer boats there getting out of it,” Yadav said adding that only the big industrialists and other traders will get facilities?

He also swiped at the BJP government over its Ganga Action Plan and said that the government failed to clean “maa Ganga”.
“Thousands of crores of rupees have been cleaned but not Maa Ganga,” SP Chief said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off the world’s longest river cruise Ganga Vilas between Varanasi-Dibrugarh on January 13. Besides, prime minister Modi will also inaugurate the Tent City at Varanasi and lay the foundation stones for several other inland waterways projects worth more than Rs 1,000 crore via videoconferencing, Prime Minister’s Office said in a release on Wednesday.

Speaking on the Global Investors Meet being organised by the Uttar Pradesh government in February, Yadav asked what incentives are being given to bring more investments.

Terming the summit as nothing but preparation for the next elections to betray the people of the state, Yadav further said, “I saw in Kannauj that the government has also included the industries of the industrialists in the Investors Summit. Where the government is talking about investment, why doesn’t it tell about the earlier investor summits? The government is only eyeing the next elections?”

Yadav also launched a twelve-page calendar featuring the chief ideologues of socialism. The calendar has been dedicated to the party’s patron, the late Mulayam Singh Yadav. Events related to the life of Mulayam Singh Yadav have been compiled with photographs. The calendar is of 12 pages and has been designed by Uday Pratap Singh and Deepak Kabir.

Samajwadi Party founder and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav passed away on October 10, last year at Medanta Hospital, Gurugram. He was 82.