Uncertainty looms over SP-Congress seat-sharing for UP bypoll
LUCKNOW: Uncertainty hangs over seat-sharing between Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP) within the INDIA bloc for the upcoming bypolls on nine seats in UP.
While SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had claimed on Saturday that the deal was sealed with Congress for the bypolls, UPCC chief Ajai Rai refuted the claim saying that no formal agreement had been reached as his party had demanded five seats.
However, on Monday, the SP chief changed his stance, stating that talks with Congress regarding seat sharing for the upcoming bypolls were still ongoing.
He was interacting with media persons following the submission of nomination papers of his nephew Tej Pratap Yadav from the Karhal assembly seat.
Earlier, even SP spokesperson Rajendra Chowdhury announced that the seat-sharing deal had been finalised, with Congress contesting two seats - Khair (Aligarh) and Ghaziabad - while the SP would field candidates for the remaining seven.
Significantly, a day after the Haryana poll result, the SP had moved to announce its candidates for seven seats including Karhal, Katehari, Kundarki, Phulpur, Sisamu, Majhawan and Meerapur leaving the Congress party red-faced.
It is to be noted that Congress had never won in Khair or Ghaziabad before.
However, UPCC chief Ajai Rai said that his party was still in talks. “We had demanded five seats and the state unit had conveyed its choice of seats to party top brass in Delhi. Meanwhile, Congress is prepared to contest any of the seats decided by INDIA bloc leaders,” he said adding that the sole aim of the Congress party was to defeat the ruling BJP on all nine seats.
According to SP leaders, Congress will contest two seats, while the SP will field candidates in the remaining eight. The Election Commission has released the bypoll schedule for nine seats, with Milkipur left out due to an ongoing legal dispute. Voting for the nine seats will take place on November 13.
As per highly placed Congress sources, the party had demanded Phulpur (Prayagraj), Sisamau (Kanpur) and Majhawan (Bhadohi) seats to contest but Akhilesh Yadav did not pay heed to the Congress’s demand and announced candidates on all those seats.
The sources claimed that Congress may not be fielding candidates in Ghaziabad and Khair seats as both have been the traditional strongholds of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the chances of it winning them are grim.
As per the political analysts, Akhilesh Yadav, strategically, spared Khair and Ghaziabad seats for Congress ensuring the SP retained control over its key constituencies.
While UP Congress leadership awaits a decision to contest or otherwise from its top brass, the All India Congress Committee general secretary (in charge of U.P.) Avinash Pandey expressed hope for coordination with the Samajwadi Party.
“We hope the SP will offer us a respectable number of seats,” he said.
Congress is also looking at striking a deal with SP vis-vis Maharashtra polls where SP has demanded a dozen seats from MVA to contest. A section of Congress leaders in UP believes that if SP leaves its contention in Maharashtra, Congress will relinquish its claim in UP.
Meanwhile, speaking about the Maharashtra Assembly polls, Akhilesh, on Monday, said that he would claim only those seats where his party had a strong presence.
"In Maharashtra, we have decided that we will claim only those seats where we have a strong organisation. We have certain parameters for asking for our share of tickets. Our state president has decided on candidates for 12 seats. We hope we will be given those seats and we will contest elections... Talks with Congress are going on seat sharing in UP," he said.