Karnataka elections: Akhilesh Yadav to hit campaign trail, address rallies

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav would also address rallies in Karnataka to campaign for the party candidates and the schedule of his tour was being given final touches in consultation with the party's state unit there, reports said.

"The SP has fielded over two dozen candidates in Karnataka. The party president will be campaigning there for our candidates. The tour details will be finalised in a day or two," SP spokesman Rajendra Chowdhury told PTI.

"Instead of addressing separate rallies for every SP candidate in fray, our party chief is likely to hold public meetings for three or four candidates at strategic locations," said a senior SP leader.

When asked specifically as to whether Akhilesh will campaign for the Congress too, Chowdhury said, "He will campaign for SP candidates only as of now." The Congress and the SP had contested the UP Assembly polls last year jointly but had contested the civic body polls in the state independently.

There were speculations that SP and BSP may contest together till BSP entered into an alliance with the JD(S) to contest the assembly polls.

BSP supremo Mayawati has started a campaign in Karnataka from Wednesday with a public meeting in Mysore. On Thursday, she will address another rally in Chitradurga district of Karnataka. At the two events, Mayawati is expected to share the stage with the top leadership of alliance partner JD(S) led by former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda.

Polling will be held in a single phase on May 12 for all the 224 Assembly seats in the Congress-ruled state, including 36 reserved for the Scheduled Castes and 15 for the Scheduled Tribes. The results will be out on May 15.