LUCKNOW: The Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance is moving towards more uncertainties even as the SP on Friday released its list of 210 candidates for the first five phases of the UP Assembly elections. The party released the first list of 191 candidates mainly from west UP for the first three phases closely followed by another list of 19 candidates for the constituencies going to the polls in the fifth phase.
Releasing both the lists in quick succession, the SP fielded candidates on many of those seats where Congress has sitting MLAs -- including the Mathura seat of CLP leader Pradeep Mathur. Shivpal Yadav, the warring uncle of chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, along with controversial state minister Azam Khan have been accomodated. Shivpal will contest from Jaswantnagar, the constituency sought for him by SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.
The party has given tickets to 56 Muslim candidates, 23 Rajputs, 11 Brahmins and 39 Dalits. Moreover, it has decided to field 26 women among the total candidates declared so far. The SP took the lead and came out with the list which was supposed to be released after the formal joint announcement of the pact between the two parties on Friday. The party stated it has not got any "positive response" from the Congress on alliance and that it could give the party only 85 of 403 assembly seats.
Talking to the media after the announcement of the names of the initial 191 party candidates, SP national vice president Kiranmoy Nanda said that Congress was offered 18 seats in the first three phases on the basis of the position of their candidates in the previous 2012 Assembly elections. He, however, added that the alliance was not yet over. Nanda added that SP had offered those 54 seats to the grand old party where it had its sitting MLAs or where they remained runners up in 2012. On the issue of releasing the list apparently without keeping Congress in the loop, Nanda said in case of an alliance SP would withdraw and adjust candidates on seats that would go to Congress. Responding to the SP’s list, Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken said the party would wait for further talks on the issue between AICC General Secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad and the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister.
Keeping the hopes for alliance alive, UPCC chief Raj Babbar said in Lucknow that the discussions over the pact were still on between the leaders of the two parties but he quickly pointed out that the prestige of the party workers should not be compromised also while stitching up any tie-up. Meanwhile, Akhilesh loyalists Arvind Singh Gope and Pawan Pandey have been allotted tickets from Ramnagar (Barabanki) and communally crucial Ayodhya respectively.
Both Gope and Pandey are sitting SP MLAs from these two seats in the current assembly. Furthermore, Rakesh Verma, the son of senior SP leader and member of Rajya Sabha, Beni Verma, has been shifted to Kaisarganj after being replaced by Gope in Ramnagar. Verma has reportedly refused to contest from Kaisarganj on the pretext that he had already prepared a ground for himself in Ramnagar. Meanwhile, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) on Friday decided to contest all the 403 assembly seats in UP in alliance with JD-U and 10 smaller parties.
The decision comes against the backdrop of Ajit Singh-led RLD failing to curry favour with either the ruling Samajwadi Party or the Congress. The filing of nominations for the second phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls on February 15 began on Friday, covering 67 constituencies spread over 11 districts in Muslim-dominated western UP. The nominations for the second phase can be filed till January 27. Withdrawal of candidature could be done till February 1 and polling will be conducted on February 15.