When Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav held his first rally in western Uttar Pradesh, he made it a point to drop in at the residence of Harinder Malik in Muzaffarnagar. The former MP and Jat leader had quit Congress to join the SP, and Yadav's visit was seen as part of the messaging to non-Muslim intermediate caste groups in a polarised polity.