On Sunday, Akhilesh and Dimple Yadav To Appear With Rahul Gandhi

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, his wife Dimple, and Congress boss Rahul Gandhi will address reporters together on Sunday in Lucknow, their first appearance after their parties agreed to a partnership for the election that was negotiated by Rahul Gandhi's younger sister, Priyanka Gandhi.

Akhilesh Yadav, 43, and Rahul Gandhi, 46, are likely to address rallies together to combat their main rivals, the BJP and Mayawati's BSP.

"UP koh yeh saath pasand hai (UP likes this tie-up)" has been finalized as the tagline for their publicity material, said sources in the Congress. However, two days ago, the Congress had said that it had decided on the catchphrase of "Apney ladkey, Modi Bahaari" (our home boys vs Modi the outsider). Today, sources in the party said "that was just one of some themes," though there are reports that Akhilesh Yadav was not sold on the slogan because of its emphasis on a direct contest with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In any case, the PM represents Uttar Pradesh's ancient and holy town of Varanasi in parliament, so the "outsider" charge may have been a tough sell.

Last weekend, the Congress and the Samajwadi Party said that the alliance seemed untenable because of disagreements over how many seats each would contest. Priyanka Gandhi then intervened, said the Congress, to manage expectations on both sides, and the political covenant was sealed.

Not entirely without pushback. Congress workers have complained that they're getting far too raw a deal in Amethi and Raebareli, which have 10 assembly seats, and are the parliamentary constituencies of Rahul Gandhi and his mother, Sonia Gandhi. Though the Congress won only two of the 10 seats in the last state election, its workers feel that the five seats offered to them this time around in their First Family's precincts are humiliating. "We want to contest all 10. We have told our top leadership this," said Deepak Singh, a young Congressman from Amethi who is known to have direct access to Priyanka Gandhi.

She is reportedly working to resolve another sticking point: Amita Singh, married to top Congress leader Sanjay Singh, whose family once ruled Amethi, wants to run for office from the same constituency allotted by Akhilesh Yadav to a minister and Samajwadi Party leader Gayatri Prajapati. One of the candidates must withdraw in respect to the alliance. Sanjay Singh's ex-wife, Garima Singh, is the BJP's candidate for the same seat.