After a month-long speculation over an imminent alliance with the Congress, the ruling Samajwadi Party on Monday ruled out the possibility of pre-poll electoral tie up with the grand old party.
After the SP’s silver jubilee foundation day programme on November 5, Congress poll strategist Prashant Kishore had several meetings with SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. The meetings had sparked off intense speculations that the SP-Congress truck was on the cards.
Soon after deliberations with Prashant Kishore in lucknow and Delhi, Mulayam Singh had rejected speculations over a tie-up saying that his party would go only for merger and not an alliance with any party.
SP sources said there was little time left for Assembly polls and the Congress is yet to indicate whether it was open to the idea of alliance. The sources said that though CM Akhilesh Yadav is against alliance with any party, he had said that if the Congress and SP joined hands, then the alliance could win 300 seats in UP Assembly.
The sources said, “There was no positive response from Congress towards the articulation by the Chief Minister. Instead, the state Congress chief Raj Babbar issued a statement against the alliance with the SP.”
“Initiating talks for alliance with Congress or any other party at this juncture would be like stirring the hornet’s nest as it would entail hard bargaining over seat sharing. The SP has started the process of candidate selection in March 2015 and the process has been completed. What remains is the final announcement of the candidates. Asking potential candidates and those who have already been fielded to make way for some other party would be an onerous task and inviting trouble ahead of elections,’’ the sources said.
A senior SP leader opined, ``By projecting Shiela Dikshit as CM candidate and undertaking a month long Kisan yatra by Rahul Gandhi, the Congress has projected itself as a front runner ahead of the 2017 Assembly polls. If they go for an alliance, then they will have to officially withdraw their CM candidate and also accept a junior partner status in UP. This would not be an easy task ahead of the crucial elections.’’
Besides working out the seat sharing formula will be an uphill task as the Congress desires to contest at least 150 seats and the SP can at best offer 50-75 seats for the Congress.
The SP leader said, ``The Congress supported us on a number of occasions like in 1990, 1993 and 2003 on the floor of the Assembly. But the Samajwadi Party has never had pre-poll alliance with the Congress as its difficult for both to transfer their votes to each other during elections.’’