Amid seat-sharing talks with the Congress for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday said securing victory for the opposition alliance mattered more than the number of seats allocated to individual parties.
The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister asserted that a united effort is needed to protect democracy, the Constitution and reservation.
In a post on X, Yadav said, "When the objective is clear, there is hand-in-hand cooperation; when the destination is in sight, the journey becomes easier."
He said the important issue was not how many seats each alliance partner gets or which seat goes to whom, but ensuring that the alliance emerges victorious.
"I once again repeat: It is not about seats, it is about victory," he said.
Yadav said such a victory would go beyond individual alliance constituents and represent the success of a collective effort aimed at preventing communalism from raising its head again.
He said the joint struggle was also aimed at ensuring that there was no "BJP heat" on democracy, the Constitution and reservation, and that harmony, development and prosperity returned to the country.
The Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls are scheduled for 2027.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Samajwadi Party won 37 seats in Uttar Pradesh -- including the prestigious Faizabad parliamentary constituency, of which the temple town of Ayodhya is an integral part -- while its ally Congress won six seats. The BJP's tally was restricted to 33 seats and the NDA's tally to 36 seats.
Currently, in the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly, the Congress has two MLAs, while the Samajwadi Party has 101 MLAs.
(With inputs from PTI)