With a majority of party loyalists agitated over the claims of Samajwadi Party chief that an agreement had been reached with Congress on 11 Lok Sabha seats in UP, the senior office-bearers of UPCC did not outrightly deny Akhilesh Yadav’s claims but said that so far no final agreement has been reached.
Some of the leaders felt that the Congress would agree if the SP was ready to leave at least 15 seats for it.
UP Congress president Ajay Rai issued a statement after Akhilesh Yadav’s tweet on Saturday. “I would definitely like to tell all my colleagues that the committee formed under our national leadership is taking a decision on the statement made by Akhilesh Yadav on the X account… A message has also been given to improve coordination between the two parties,” he said.
Rai said the Congress would stake its claims on some more seats.
Some senior Congress leaders believe that the party’s share would be more than 15 seats.
Apart from its traditional Amethi and Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seats, Congress is staking its claim on other seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections on the basis of its performance in the past and caste equations. The party is also looking at the vote banks of the allies in the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance.
Party sources say that apart from Kanpur, Jhansi, Maharajganj, Fatehpur Sikri, Saharanpur, Bijnor, Amroha, Kheri, Faizabad, Shahjahanpur, Deoria, Pratapgarh, Gonda, Congress is preparing to field its candidates in Lucknow also. It is almost certain that Rahul Gandhi will contest from Amethi and Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli.
The party may field Ajay Kapoor from Kanpur, Supriya Shrinet from Maharajganj, Pradeep Kumar Jain Aditya from Jhansi, Raj Babbar from Fatehpur Sikri, Dr Nirmal Khatri from Faizabad, former MLA Akhilesh Pratap Singh from Deoria and MLA Virendra Chaudhary from Gonda. Congress is also preparing to field Imran Masood from Saharanpur or Bijnor. The Congress may also field Danish Ali, the MP expelled by Bahujan Samaj Party, from Amroha.
Besides, there are preparations to field Dr Purvi Verma, daughter of former MP Ravi Verma, who recently left SP and joined Congress. Ravi Verma’s family has a good hold on the Kurmi vote bank. Congress also hopes to get its share of Muslim vote bank here.
In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, Congress candidate Zafar Ali Naqvi had won from Kheri constituency. Supriya Shrinet’s father Harsh Vardhan Singh has been a three-time MP from Maharajganj. Shriprakash Jaiswal had won the Kanpur seat in 2009. After this, he stood second in the 2014 and 2019 elections. Raj Babbar stood second in the last election on Fatehpur Sikri seat. Pradeep Jain won the 2009 elections from Jhansi.
Party sources say the candidates for Lucknow and Pratapgarh seats have not been decided yet but the party will stake claim on these seats.