After the two I.N.D.I.A bloc partners, Samajwadi Party and Congress sealed alliance in Uttar Pradesh, it is seen that the two may have challenging task to even cross double digits in the 80 seat strong state in the coming Lok Sabha elections after the exit of regional player Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).
As per the agreement, Congress will field its candidates on 17 Lok Sabha seats including its strongholds Rae Bareli and Amethi. The party will also field its candidate on Varanasi, the Lok Sabha constituency currently being represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Besides, Congress will also contest Kanpur Nagar, Fatehpur Sikri, Basgaon, Saharanpur, Prayagraj, Maharajganj, Amroha, Jhansi, Bulandshahr, Ghaziabad, Mathura, Sitapur, Barabanki, and Deoria seats.
However, the Congress is seen to have strong ground only in Amethi and Rae Bareli. A political leader associated with Rae Bareli seat said, “If we go by the present preparations, only those seats that would be contested by a Gandhi (Priyanka or Rahul) out of the two, can be won without any challenge.”
Besides, it is said that the party has bright prospects in Amroha and Saharanpur seat. It is pertinent to note that Amroha MP Danish Ali was suspended by BSP and is believed to be set to join Congress after attending launch of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from Manipur. Apart from that, Saharanpur Lok Sabha constituency is reckoned to have roughly 45 percent Muslims population.
Talking about SP, the UP based analysts claim that the party has only one seat of Mianpuri which they can easily pocket without any challenge from the NDA. All other seats, according to political observers, are going to be battlefields for the SP like Rampur, Sambhal, Moradabad, Azamgarh, Kannauj, Ferozabad, and Badaun. Where it is seen to be 50-50 contest.
However political analyst based in UP Aditya Rathi said, “Although there are chances that majority Muslim dominated seats could be won by the duo (Congress and SP) but the opposition bloc should also be wary of the candidates fielded by BSP chief Mayawati. Seeing how opposition has been languid over the past few months for elections, there are only handful of safe seats for the opposition. If BSP fields strong Muslim candidates on seats where Muslims are in a considerable number (around 30 LS seats where Muslims have sizable population), the Muslim votes could get divided and eventually help BJP win on such seats as well.”
A Congress spokesperson seeking anonymity said, “This contest would by and large be bipolar. People know there are only two parties who can come at centre and BSP has now become a party which is working from silos and has no connect with people on the ground. So there is high possibility that their candidates will not work and may not impact in such a way that Congress-SP duo will become victim to their candidates.”