Morning Pulse: After the Ayodhya dare, Akhilesh heads to Delhi and Yogi to farmers

Since last night, nobody has formally committed to a seat in Ayodhya. The Saturday-Sunday exchange between Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav still stands where it ended: the chief minister says he is ready, and Akhilesh says local leader Pawan Pandey is enough. On Monday the two leaders take the 2027 contest to different ground. Akhilesh is expected in Delhi with the opposition. Adityanath will be in Gorakhpur with farmers.

The INDIA bloc plans to march to the Supreme Court this afternoon. It wants three things: an end to what it calls "vote chori", a halt to the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, and the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The Week, citing the Hindustan Times, reported that Akhilesh skipped the bloc's previous two Delhi marches and is expected to join this one. Deccan Chronicle said leaders would gather after 2 pm and aim to reach the court around 4 pm.

The march lost one of its goals before it began. Chief Justice Surya Kant declined the opposition's request for a meeting on Sunday. LiveLaw, as cited by Scroll and The Week, reported that he called the issues sub judice and said petitioners were free to use the judicial route. Delhi Metro has shut entry and exit at six central stations until 4 pm. The BJP and the Election Commission have rejected the charges of electoral manipulation.

For Akhilesh, the march links his UP campaign to a national cause. On Sunday in Lucknow he again accused the commission of helping the BJP and demanded the release of young protesters detained in Delhi. His presence would also settle a quieter question: whether the SP stands with Congress on the street as well as in statements.

Adityanath's day is about delivery. The state government says he will transfer about Rs 493 crore to some 9.18 lakh farmers at the Yogiraj Baba Gambhirnath Auditorium in Gorakhpur. The money is input subsidy for crops lost to floods, heavy rain, hailstorms and Cyclone Arnav. Amar Ujala reported that reduced-interest farm loans under the Mukhyamantri Krishak Samriddhi Yojana also start today. Small and marginal farmers will pay 6 percent instead of 11 percent, through the state's cooperative land development bank. On Sunday, the first day of Navratri, he performed the kalash puja at Gorakhnath Temple.

Congress spent Sunday night on damage control. Aradhana Misra Mona took charge as state president in Lucknow amid a scuffle between rival groups, one of them loyal to outgoing chief Ajay Rai. PTI reported that Rai later welcomed her with a bouquet. Citing party sources, it said Rai had complained to the high command that he was insulted and that Mona promised action against those responsible. One party leader called the social media reports of blows and slippers false. No disciplinary step has been announced yet. Mona announced a weekly "chargesheet" campaign against the state government, and Chaudhary Virendra Singh replaced her as Congress Legislature Party leader.

A third voice joined the debate. AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, speaking in Azamgarh on Sunday, answered the chief minister's old "80 versus 20" framing with a "99 versus 1" pitch about poverty. He cited state data that he said places Azamgarh fourth among UP districts for the number of poor people. Earlier this month, in Shravasti, he offered the SP an alliance to stop the BJP. The SP has not publicly taken up that offer.