LUCKNOW: Alliance partners Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav could address as many as 18 rallies together in UP. The decision was taken after a meeting between the two leaders on Wednesday. Party sources said the details of these rallies, expected to be held in each division, are being worked out.Meanwhile, at an outlet outside the Samajwadi Party office, BSP supremo Mayawati’s face can be seen smiling incongruously at the onlooker from a tray full of SP trinkets. Joint campaign material, such as caps, flags, badges and t-shirts, has made its way to shops outside both party offices. This is for the first time , said a shop owner, that joint campaign material has been produced for two parties.“In 2017, when SP and Congress contested the Assembly polls together, the campaign material was separate. This time, we have taken a chance and printed caps with one side in BSP’s blue and the other in SP’s red. T-shirts with faces of both Mayawati and Akhilesh and car flags with emblems of both parties have also been printed,” said Ravindra Agarwal, the owner of the shop.Next to his shop, Mohan Lal Agarwal has a different take though. Keeping in mind that items like flags are expensive, he said he has chosen to invest in only small items such as plastic badges as he is not sure whether the alliance will last.“This is politics. Who knows what will happen. One evening Akhileshji will go to meet Mayawati and she may get upset over something. I cannot afford to invest Rs 20 lakh in something like this,” he said.Meanwhile, shopkeepers are miffed with the police and the Election Commission, saying that in the absence of any specific notice for them, they are facing continuous harassment from law enforcement agencies over violation of the model code of conduct. Outside the BSP office, three small stalls have displayed general Dalit material and literature, largely books on and photos of ideologue BR Ambedkar.Ask for poll material and stall owners will surreptitiously pull out a flag or badge from under the table. “We are not allowed to display party symbols and cannot openly sell this material,” said one.Outside the SP office, Ravindra Agarwal said that in 2017, they got the then additional chief election officer of UP PK Pandey to issue a notice saying that material like cardboard badges, caps, masks and scarfs did not come under the provisions of section 127 A of the Representation of People Act of 1951 and therefore should not be seized. “Despite this, the police show up routinely. I sold material worth only Rs 150 till Thursday afternoon,” he said.

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