Dashing hopes of a ‘maha gathbandhan’ against the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party on Thursday ruled out any alliance with the Rashtriya lok Dal (RlD) but asserted that it would have a tie-up with the Congress.
RlD will not be part of the SP-Congress alliance as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is not interested in taking the RlD in the loop because of Muslim anger towards party’s chief Chaudhary Ajit Singh.
later in the day, the Congress kept the hopes of a ‘maha gathbandhan’ alive by not ruling out the inclusion of the RlD in the tie-up for the key Assembly polls in the State.
“Contours of the alliance are being worked out. So...It is premature for me to say something on the issue till things are finalised,” Congress chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala told reporters in New Delhi when asked whether the RlD had been kept out of the tie-up.
However, senior SP leader Kiranmoy Nanda told The Pioneer that the SP was never in touch with the RlD. “You (media) people have been talking about it. We were clear that Samajwadi Party will have truck with the Congress only for the forthcoming Assembly election,” he asserted.
Nanda said that the blueprint of the alliance is ready. “We have even shortlisted candidates for the first and second phases. The list will be declared as soon as we make the
nitty-gritty of the alliance,” he said.
While SP leaders refused to divulge why the RlD would not be part of the alliance, a source revealed, “A section of the SP leaders are not interested in going with the RlD as it could affect the Muslim vote bank in western UP because of simmering anger among Muslims against Ajit Singh. Besides, Jats too are not much supportive of the RlD as Ajit Singh had ignored them during the 2013 riots.”
SP leaders said they had entrusted the Congress to talk to the RlD about the alliance as they do not want to send a signal to the Muslims that Akhilesh was keen to stitch an alliance with the RlD. The Congress tried its best, but hasnot been able to convince Jayant Chaudhary yet.
Sources said Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was slated to visit lucknow to announce the alliance, had to cancel his air tickets thrice due to the deadlock in talks with the RlD.
It is understood that in the SP-Congress alliance the SP would contest around 300 seats while the Congress will contest 100 seats.
The Congress had demanded at least one seat each from 75 districts plus most of the seats in Amethi and Raebareli districts. Sources said the Congress was demanding a seat from lucknow.
“The Congress had one sitting member at lucknow Cantonment but the candidate Rita Bahuguna Joshi had joined the BJP. Congress Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh wants the seat for his wife Amita. On the other hand, the SP wants the seat for their family member Aparna Yadav, wife of Pratik, the youngest son of Mulayam Singh Yadav. But now Amita is set to be shifted to lucknow (East) seat,” a senior Congress leader said.
The SP has agreed to the Congress’ demand to give all the seats in Amethi and Raebareli except that of two Ministers Gayatri Prasad Prajapati from Amethi seat and Manoj Kumar Pandey from Unchahar seat.
In the 2012, assembly elections Congress failed to win a single seat in Rae Bareli but won one from Amethi, but the lone Congress MlA too joined the BSP last year.
SP president Akhilesh Yadav met Sibutullah Ansari, Rahguraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya and several others to chalk out his strategy and finalise his candidates’ list.