Samajwadi Party is confident that it will have an edge over Congress and bargain from the position of strength for sharing seats for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
SP believes that after losing elections in three significant states (Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh) Congress is no longer in a position to dictate its terms to SP and all other regional parties constituting the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).
The SP leadership perceives that the recent assembly election result has given it an advantage in seat distribution within the alliance. Consequently, the Congress might face limitations in securing as many seats as previously demanded due to a perceived lack of merit post-elections.
Ahead of the elections in the three Hindi heartland states, Congress had expected to win all three states. Armed with this perception, the Congress had staked its claim as per the number of seats won by it in 2009 Lok Sabha election in Uttar Pradesh. The Congress had won 22 seats in 2009, largely on the basis of massive support from the Muslims. For 2024 Congress is eyeing the Muslim vote bank and the party is also taking out the UP Jodo Yatra from Saharanpur from December 20 to Naimisharanya in Sitapur district. The yatra will pass through districts having a significant Muslim population.
A Congress leader said, “Though the Muslim electorate turning towards Congress would be seen in the upcoming national elections (UP has around 19 per cent Muslim population), Congress wants to resurrect the party in Uttar Pradesh.”
Congress is in wilderness in UP since it lost power in the state in 1989.
Sources in SP said after the disastrous performance of the Congress in three Hindi heartland states, the grand old party has lost the status of ‘big brother’ in INDIA bloc.
SP president Akhilesh Yadav has already categorically stated that seat sharing in the INDIA bloc will be easy now after the defeat of Congress in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, as the ego that the party carried for long has been neutralised.
“Now we are united and ready to take on the zero-tolerance government (National Democratic Alliance government) which has been reduced to zero. In this government, people are fed up with their policies and want a change as the ruling party was not able to fulfill the electoral promises it made,” the SP president said.
There is a common impression within SP leadership that Akhilesh Yadav will have more leverage over the Congress in UP. Not because SP performed well in Madhya Pradesh but because Congress unceremoniously declined to be part of the alliance at the last moment and that too unilaterally.
Meanwhile, the meeting of INDIA bloc parties on Tuesday is likely to focus on seat-sharing in key states with some leaders pushing for an agreement before December 31, and on redrawing the joint strategy to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party after the recent reverses in assembly polls.
The key challenge before the leaders of various opposition parties, who have come together to fight the BJP unitedly in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, is also to come up with an alternative common programme as a counter to the ruling dispensation.
Sources said a section of opposition leaders is of the view that the seat-sharing should be finalised before December 31 so as to help focus on evolving a joint campaign strategy and present a common programme to the people. The immediate challenge before the INDIA bloc is also to build a consensus on having a convener, a spokesperson and a common secretariat, as it is a tricky issue due to differences among the constituents.
