Amid Omicron: SP Chief Akhilesh Calls Off VijayRath Yatra

Mr. Akhilesh shares his Covid-negative report on Twitter.

New Delhi: Amid the Omicron scare, Samajwadi Party's Vijay Rath Yatra in Ayodhya, scheduled for January 9, has been cancelled. As per the Party Chief, Akhilesh Yadav has called off his other rallies in Uttar Pradesh's Gonda and District Basti on January 7 and January 8.

Ahead of the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly Polls, political parties are aggressively campaigning in the state in the build-up to the high-stakes in the election.

Earlier, SP Chief Yadav had cancelled another rally in western UP and said he would stay away from public events for three days after his wife and daughter tested positive.

Before holding any further party events, Akhilesh Yadav shared his COVID-19 negative report on his official Twitter handle. He said he had decided on a precautionary move since his family members have been infected.

On Wednesday, Congress had written to the Election Commission asking it to "cancel big rallies (in the state) because of an anticipated third wave of Covid cases".

Congress has postponed all its events in the poll-bound state over the recent surge in cases believed to be driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

As per the report, India reported 58,097 cases in 24 hours on Wednesday - the sixth daily increase in the past nine days.

In a report of news agency ANI, party's General Secretary, KC Venugopal said, "Congress has decided to postpone major rallies in UP and other poll-bound states. We have asked state units to assess the COVID-19 situation in their states and then take a decision on holding rallies."

Meanwhile, UP CM Yogi has also cancelled a government function in the state's Gautam Buddh Nagar district scheduled for today. While no official reason was given, the district has reported the highest number of Covid cases from the state in the past week.

The cancellation followed shocking scenes from UP's Bareilly district Tuesday, where hundreds of women and teen girls were without masks during a party event that almost led to a near-stampede situation.