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With the political temperature gradually beginning to rise in the run-up to this summer’s Lok Sabha elections, Samajwadi Party (SP) national president Akhilesh Yadav’s post on Saturday saying that his party’s alliance with the Congress is “off to a good start with 11 strong seats (to the Congress)” has triggered speculation in political circles in Uttar Pradesh.
Indications are that the SP is not willing to give more than 13 Lok Sabha seats to the Congress even as the Bihar political developments and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s tough talk against the Congress have made the INDIA bloc alliance in those states uncertain.
Uttar Pradesh has 80 Lok Sabha seats, the highest in the country. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP and its ally Apna Dal (S) won 62 out of the 80 seats in the state. The Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance won 15 seats (SP 5 and BSP 10) and the Congress could only bag one seat.
In a post on X on Saturday, Akhilesh Yadav said: “Our cordial alliance with the Congress is off to a good start with 11 strong seats (to Congress). This trend will move forward with the winning equation. ‘INDIA’ team and ‘PDA (backwards, Dalits, and minorities)’ strategy will change history.”
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However, in their statements, none of the Congress leaders in Uttar Pradesh or Delhi made any mention of the 11 seats though all said that positive talks are on between the two parties.
All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary (in charge of UP) Avinash Pandey said: “The seat-sharing talks between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress were progressing well with all the positivity.” He also said he had seen the SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s post about seat-sharing, but had no further information on the issue.
As Akhilesh’s post sparked speculations, those familiar with the issue said the SP was not willing to accommodate the Congress on more than 13 seats.
When the seat-sharing talks between the two parties began, the Congress had demanded 30 seats, including the 21 the grand old party had won in U.P. in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.
A senior SP leader, not willing to be quoted, said that his party feels that Congress in Uttar Pradesh is not in any position to contest on more than 11 to 13 Lok Sabhs seats.
Sharing information about the ongoing seat-sharing talks, the leader said that Congress has been vaguely putting forward the demand for the seats without even having a significant candidate to field on many of those seats. In turn, the SP interlocutors had asked the Congress to share specific names of the candidates it wanted to field, this leader said.
“The SP leaders, in their discussions with the Congress counterparts, have also made it clear that seat-sharing formula cannot be based on the 2009 results, in which the Congress won 21 seats (the SP had won 23 and the BSP 20). The SP feels politics in the state has changed since 2014 and seat-sharing should be done on present political realities where the SP’s vote percentage has risen considerably and Congress’ fell drastically,” he said.
Meanwhile, the SP has already finalised its alliance with Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), giving it 7 seats. Sources say that of those 7 seats, the candidates on three to four will be given by the Samajwadi Party.
Professor SK Dwivedi, a political analyst and former head of the department of political science at Lucknow University, said: “I had earlier said that two issues will trouble the INDIA bloc–one is seat-sharing and the second is the leadership of the alliance. And both the issues are now troubling the alliance as we can see in Bihar and West Bengal. Akhilesh may have announced 11 seats, but all is cryptic. There is no clarity.”
While the names of the 11 seats have not been revealed by Akhilesh or his party, the offer to the Congress includes Amethi and Rae Bareli. Sources said in West UP, the SP has offered Saharanpur and Meerut. In east UP, the seats are Varanasi and Maharajganj. In central Uttar Pradesh, the SP is ready to leave Kanpur and Barabanki. It has also offered Lakhimpur or Dhaurara.
Talking to Hindustan Times, a senior Congress leader from UP said: “We had given a list of 30 seats to our central leadership. It is now up to the party high command to take a final call on the number of seats it agrees to in the alliance.”
After the Congress’ debacle in assembly polls in four states December last year in the backdrop of acrimony between the two parties over not giving any seats to the SP in Madhya Pradesh, Akhilesh had said: “The arrogance is demolished, and now the results will help INDIA bloc (in seat-sharing issue)”
Decoding Akhilesh’s post, senior SP leader Sudhir Panwar, a probable candidate from a West UP Constituency, said: “Akhilesh ji has given a clear signal that the alliance is on in UP”.
On the 11 seats to Congress, Samajwadi Party spokesperson Ameque Jamei said: “Like Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav), Akhileshji has shown a big heart.”
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