Samajwadi Party is sniffing an opportunity for itself and its ally Congress in the impending by-election to two lok Sabha seats in UP. The by-poll in Gorakhpur and Phulpur lok Sabha seats is likely to be caused as the incumbent MPs Yogi Adityanath and Keshav Prasad Maurya have become Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister respectively.
Though Yogi Adityanath has delivered his farewell speech in the lok Sabha on Tuesday, both Yogi and Maurya are likely to resign from membership of the lok Sabha after the election of the President of India due in July.
As per constitutional obligations, both Yogi and Maurya need to be elected to either House of the bicameral UP legislature within six months from taking oath of office. The deadline for both leaders is September 15.
The SP hopes that the by-election in the two seats could facilitate the laying of the foundation of Mahagathbandhan (MGB) against the BJP in the 2019 lok Sabha polls. The MGB will also include Bahujan Samaj Party. The BSP as per established practice never participates in by-polls.
A statistical assessment of the recent Assembly poll results indicate that if seat-wise votes of the SP, BSP and Congress were added and there were a MGB like Bihar then the BJP would have got only 90 seats while the grand alliance would have pocketed 313 seats.
SP sources said that the party is yet to explore and consider the issue. A SP leader said that the party will like to field its candidate at Phulpur lok Sabha seat to be vacated by Keshav Prasad Maurya and it will extend its support to the Congress in Gorakhpur seat.
Sources also said that if the votes of the three parties –SP, Congress and BSP, come under one umbrella then it could pose a formidable challenge to the BJP. The SP would prefer a candidate from Kurmi community in Phulpur and a Brahmin candidate by the Congress from Gorakhpur lok Sabha seat. India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru used to contest from Phulpur seat.
From 1989 lok Sabha poll onwards, candidate from the Kurmi community from Janata Dal and later from the BSP were elected to the lok Sabha from this seat.
Sources said that the Congress too favours to contest the lok Sabha by-poll in alliance with Samajwadi Party. Congress sources said that the elevation of Yogi, a Rajput, has revived the traditional caste lines of the two dominant communities –Brahman–Rajput in UP.
Congress hopes to cash in on it by playing the fault lines to win over its traditional vote bank -Brahmins. An earlier attempt by the Congress to attract Brahmins ahead of UP Assembly poll by projecting Sheila Dikshit as the CM face came a cropper as the party decided to stitch an alliance with Samajwadi Party.