After the spat with the Congress over seat sharing for Madhya Pradesh assembly election followed by the poll debacle, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has softened his stand towards the grand old party.

“Our sole aim is to fight the Bharatiya Janata Party and prevent it from coming to power after 2024 Lok Sabha elections and with this objective many parties have joined hands to form the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA),” Yadav said in Firozabad on Sunday.

The SP chief’s remarks are being seen as a clear indication of his softening towards the Congress, especially in light of how Akhilesh Yadav had lashed out at the grand old party during the assembly elections to MP, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and two other states.

Referring to the felicitation of the rat-hole miners in Lucknow on Saturday, Yadav said, “People who save lives are priceless. They are precious people. Everyone worked together as a team and achieved their goal by saving not only 41 people but they also saved 41 families. This message is for the entire country; if we all work together, then no matter how big the problem is, it can be solved.”

Akhilesh Yadav had threatened to give a “tit-for-tat” response to Congress in Uttar Pradesh in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls after the two parties failed to reach a deal for the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls. Yadav even called the Congress “a compulsive betrayer” and had also said that it was no different from the BJP.

Later, a SP leader had created a stir by claiming that the Congress was non-existent beyond Amethi and Rae Bareli, which were represented by former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi respectively. Rahul Gandhi had lost the Amethi election in 2019 to Union minister Smriti Irani. Rae Bareli is represented in the Lok Sabha by former Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

“'To be honest, Congress should get only two seats – Amethi and Rae Bareli. Giving more seats than this would help the BJP. Congress does not have any presence here (in UP) except in these Lok Sabha constituencies,”' the SP leader said, adding that the SP did not have any intention to break the INDIA bloc.

A senior Congress leader held the party responsible for defeats in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh assembly polls. He said the poll debacle was due to the myopic politics of the Congress and the defeat of the Congress in three states had weakened the INDIA bloc.

Meanwhile, sources in the SP said here on Sunday that the INDIA bloc was robust in Uttar Pradesh and all the issues, including seat sharing, would be sorted out within this month.

A senior SP leader said Rashtriya Lok Dal president Jayant Chowdhary had also categorically stated that he was with the SP and part of the INDIA bloc.