Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav will campaign for Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidates ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections on February 5, joining forces with AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal. Yadav will participate in a roadshow in Rithala on January 30, and other SP MPs, including Iqra Hasan from Kairana, will also lend their support to AAP’s candidates in the Delhi poll race.

The collaboration between SP and AAP comes as part of the INDIA bloc, which also includes Congress, although SP leaders will only be campaigning for AAP, which is contesting against both the Congress and the BJP in Delhi. This marks further alienation between Congress and other opposition parties within the INDIA alliance, which has faced internal differences since the last Lok Sabha elections.

Despite fighting together against the BJP in last year’s general elections, the AAP and Congress are now opponents in the Delhi Assembly polls, with the AAP leading the charge against Congress and BJP. The divide within the opposition bloc was evident last year when several parties, including TMC, expressed support for West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee to lead the alliance, challenging Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s leadership.

In addition to Yadav's campaign, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Shatrughan Sinha will also join the AAP campaign in early February, canvassing for the party in at least three constituencies on February 1 and 2.