There is talk between Samajwadi Party and Congress regarding the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Both the parties have almost agreed on the alliance formula. Seat sharing will be announced by this evening. In this regard, SP President Akhilesh Yadav said that there is no dispute between us. There will be an alliance. Soon everything will become clear. The rest of the things have become old. All is well that ends well.
Akhilesh said, Samajwadi Party will try to connect as many people as possible. When the time comes, people will be given responsibility. It is believed that seat sharing can be announced this evening itself. There will be a joint press conference at 5 pm. Senior leaders of both the parties will also participate in it.
‘Congress will get 17 seats in the alliance’
State units of both the parties have announced the alliance. There are total 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP. There was a tussle between both the parties regarding the claim on three seats. According to sources, talks are still going on on two-three seats. SP had offered Congress 17 seats including Sitapur, Congress has agreed to this. Samajwadi Party may leave Amroha seat for Congress Party.
Sources say that Samajwadi Party has also added Sitapur seat to the 17 seats. Congress is now taking Sitapur seat instead of Hathras.
Which seats have been given to Congress?
The names of Amethi, Rae Bareli, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Maharajganj, Deoria, Bansgaon, Sitapur, Amroha, Bulandshahr, Ghaziabad, Kanpur, Jhansi, Barabanki, Fatehpur Sikri, Saharanpur and Mathura are included.
‘There was a problem on these three seats’
Just a day before, news had come that there was a tussle regarding alliance between SP and Congress. There is no discussion on seat sharing at the local level. Sources said that SP President Akhilesh Yadav is not ready to give Moradabad, Ballia and Bijnor seats to Congress. Whereas Congress wants to bet on Ballia seat for its state president Ajay Rai. At the same time, Ballia is considered the stronghold of SP.
‘Akhilesh had said that he will go on Nyay Yatra after seat sharing’
Sources also said that since no consensus has been reached on seat sharing, SP President Akhilesh Yadav has not participated in the Bharat Jodo Nyaya Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi. Earlier, Akhilesh Yadav had said that he will not participate in the yatra until the seat sharing with Congress is finalized. Once the seat distribution is decided, the Samajwadi Party will join the Congress’ Nyay Yatra.
Let us tell you that in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Samajwadi Party had won the Moradabad seat. In Moradabad, Congress stood second in the mayor’s election and lost by a small margin.
In UP, SP has so far announced 32 candidates in three lists. The first list came on 30 January. In this, 16 candidates were announced. In the second list, 11 more candidates were announced, the name of Don-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s brother and BSP MP Afzal Ansari is also included in this list. There were names of 5 candidates in the third list. Shivpal Yadav has been made the candidate from Badaun.
How did the talks get back on track?
Sources say that when the issue of seat sharing in the Alliance seemed to be deteriorating, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi took charge. He started the conversation. After talking to Rahul, talked to Akhilesh Yadav. After that Congress dropped the demand for Moradabad seat. Congress demanded 2 changes. Instead of Samajwadi’s return to Hathras, he asked for Sitapur seat. It was agreed to leave Bulandshahr or Mathura regarding Shravasti. However, SP has announced its candidate for Varanasi. Congress has requested SP to withdraw its candidate.
SP-Congress come into alliance again
Let us tell you that when elections were held in 2017, SP was in power in UP and at the time of elections there was an alliance between SP and Congress. At that time, during the election campaign, the alliance had given the slogan – ‘UP likes this together.’ Then the leaders of both the parties were seen giving the message of ‘two boys of UP’ coming together. Once again the alliance between both the parties has been finalized.