With dates for the 2017 Assembly polls to be announced any day, the possibility of a pre-poll alliance between the ruling Samajwadi Party, Congress and Rashtriya lok Dal (RlD), has gained momentum and an announcement in this regard is expected any time next week.
The move was expedited as Opposition parties are now trying to come on one platform to capitalise on the anti-Modi sentiments in the wake of demonetisation.
The alliance, if and when it is forged, is clearly a desperate move on part of the ruling SP as well as the Congress to prevent the BJP from coming to power. Such an alliance will also help the SP prevent its minority votes from being divided and also provide a lifeline to the Congress, which has been fighting for its survival in UP.
Sources in the SP and Congress maintained that talks were in an advanced stage and an announcement was expected in two to three days. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who has been talking about the alliance in public in recent weeks, called first time party MlAs to his official residence on Friday evening to discuss the political situation. The meeting is slated to continue on Saturday morning too.
However, a senior Congress leader claimed that it was almost final that the SP was ready to give 100 odd seats to the Congress-RlD combine. While the Congress will contest 80 seats, the rest will be fought by RlD and Rastriya Janta Dal candidates.
It has also been decided in principle that in case the alliance gets a majority in the polls, Akhilesh Yadav will be the CM of the alliance with a Deputy CM from the Congress. The last hitch for the SP is a nod from the SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, who had earlier opposed an alliance. Sources maintained that Mulayam Singh was now convinced and would announce the major decision next week.
Earlier, the SP was reluctant to leave out more than 70 seats for the Congress and RlD but now it has agreed to give a total of 100 plus seats to the combine. Sources also claimed that the Congress staked its claim on 125 seats but an agreement could be reached at 100 seats. Besides, the Congress has been demanding the post of the Deputy Chief Minister.
Due to reports of an alliance, candidates of both the SP and Congress are in a fix.
A Congress leader claimed on Friday that Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had informed some leaders in UP that there would be no confusion after two-three days as a pre-poll alliance would be polished off by then.
The leader said top Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Raj Babbar have held several rounds of meetings with SP leaders during the last few days over seat adjustment.
Congress poll strategist Prashant Kishore also had several rounds of talks with SP leaders, including Akhilesh Yadav, to bring the entire Opposition, except BSP, on one platform.
Over the yers, the SP has managed to push the Congress to the margins and establish itself as the main ‘secular political force’ in the state. Mulayam Singh has been of the view that revival of the Congress would divie minority votes. The Congress leadership too has had its share of misgivings about the SP chief in the past.
Both parties have a forgetable experience of alliance in 1991. In the 2012 Assembly polls, the Samajwadi Party won 224 seats getting 29.15 per cent votes, while the Congress won 29 seats (one Independent) with 11.6 per cent votes.