LUCKNOW: Just three weeks ahead of the first phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party and Congress overcame an extended period of hiccups and signed their alliance pact for the State on Sunday.
As per the deal, the SP will contest on 298 seats, leaving behind 105 seats for the Congress. Akhilesh Yadav would be the CM face of the combine.
Earlier, the alliance hit a roadblock after the SP declared its candidates for 210 out of 403 seats, mainly for constituencies in western UP. Nine of these seats were the ones won by the Congress in 2012, which it was unwilling to vacate.
The Congress also demanded those seats in which it had emerged as the runner-up.
Another and perhaps the more important bone of contention was Amethi and Rae Bareli, Parliamentary constituencies of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi.
While the SP was reportedly not ready to share any of the seats in Amethi and was adamant about contesting all but one in Rae Bareli, the Congress too put up a hard bargain.
Priyanka Gandhi, according to reports, demanded all seats in both Amethi and Rae Bareli on Saturday evening, leading to a stalemate.
However, Congress spinmaster Ahmed Patel’s intervention revived the deal at the last stage.
According to the final agreement, the SP gave two seats in Rae Bareli and three in Amethi to the Congress. Making a formal announcement to this effect at a joint press conference, Samajwadi Party State president Naresh Uttam and Congress State chief Raj Babbar said that the alliance was forged against communal and caste forces and would introduce a new revolutionary era in the State politics.
Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party released another list of its 79 candidates taking the total to 289 of its total share of 298. The Congress is yet to come out with its first list.