With the announcement of candidates for nine Lok Sabha seats, it appears the Samajwadi Party has shut the doors for accommodating Congress with “honourable” number of seats in its alliance with Bahujan Samaj Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal. The Congress has also hardened its stand, reiterating that it will contest all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.
“The situation is now complicated and any pre-poll understanding with Congress for Lok Sabha election is highly unlikely,” said a SP leader, blaming the Congress for the deadlock.
On Friday, the SP declared nine candidates for the 2019 polls with four seats going to the party’s first family members.
Sitting party MP from Budaun and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s cousin Dharmendra Yadav will again contest from there while Shabbir Valmiki will be the party candidate from Bahraich. This has complicated any possible equation with the Congress which has declared Salim Sherwani as its candidate from Budaun.
Sitting MP from Bahraich, Savitribai Phule, who won in 2014 on BJP ticket, joined Congress last week and is likely to be fielded by her new party from Bahraich. Phule had earlier approached the SP for a ticket but Akhilesh did not take her on board.
The SP also declared a woman candidate from Lakhimpur, a seat which Congress won in 2009 and was hence eyeing it this time too. Congress has also declared a candidate from Akbarpur, a Bahujan Samaj Party stronghold.
Sitting MP from Kannauj, Dimple Yadav will contest from the same seat for SP though Akhilesh had earlier said that she would not contest poll and he would fight the election from Kannauj. Akhilesh is now expected to contest from Azamgarh, a seat won and retained by party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav last time.
SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav has been fielded from his traditional seat Mainpuri, from where another Yadav family member Tej Pratap Yadav won last time. Tej Pratap will now have to be accommodated on some other seat by the SP.
“Ever since the Congress chief Rahul Gandhi appointed Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as AICC general secretary incharge of UP east, he has maintained his position that his party will play on the front foot, leaving no space for any reconciliation,” said an SP leader.
Congress sources, however, maintained that repeated assertion by the SP chief that Congress was part of the grand alliance comprising SP, BSP and RLD, and leaving only two seats for the grand old party, was humiliating to say the least.
A Congress leader said, “Akhilesh has no business to make repeated announcement that Congress is part of their alliance without getting the consent of party high command as only the central leadership is competent to take such decision.”
Reacting to the Akhilesh offer of two seats for his party, AICC general secretary incharge of UP west, Jyotiraditya Scindia, said that if that was his thinking, then Congress too might leave 2-3 seats for them (SP and BSP).
On Saturday, Scindia asserted that the Congress would fight the 2019 general election in Uttar Pradesh on its own strength.
Scindia, however added, “The path of Congress may be different from the SP and BSP but all three have a common objective — to dislodge the Bharatiya Janata Party from Delhi.”