Saffron dilemma over two Bareilly seats
BJP is delaying its decision on Bareilly seat as the party seems to be in dilemma over the other two seats – Varun Gandhi’s Pilibhit and Dr Sanghmitra Maurya’s Badaun — of the division. As per the political grapevine, the saffron ranks are not in favour of giving ticket to Varun Gandhi, the sitting MP from Pilibhit, as he did not spare a single chance to launch a tirade over PM Modi and UP CM Yogi during the last three years. Though the Pilibhit MP has toned down his aggressive demeanour during the last few months, his fate is said to have already been decided by the top brass and will be announced shortly.
Allies in INDIA bloc still mull seat-sharing
After sealing the deal of 17 seats with Congress and keeping the remaining 63 for itself and smaller allies, the road ahead for SP chief Akhilesh Yadav is not going to be smooth as the Communist Party of India (CPI), another component of INDIA bloc, has proposed to contest on six Lok Sabha seats in UP in the upcoming battle of ballots. The seats identified by the CPI are Banda, Ghazipur, Ghosi, Robertsganj (SC), Shahjahanpur (SC), and Dhaurahra. Meanwhile, the Congress and SP have already distributed those seats between them.
Parties cautious, set up coordination panels
The Samajwadi Party which had taken a lead in announcing the Lok Sabha candidates and had rushed to declare around 32 names before sealing the seat sharing deal with the Congress, is now treading very cautiously keeping its cards close to its chest. Similarly, the Congress, despite having released two lists of over 40 candidates in each, is yet to open UP card prolonging the suspense over Amethi and Rae Bareli seats where the party cadre is demanding the candidature of Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi respectively. To ensure the understanding reached between the parties, leaders came up with a strategy to set up coordination panels at various levels.
Namita bajpai
Our correspondent in Uttar Pradesh
namita.bajpai@ newindianexpress.com