The Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh has started announcing candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, taking the Congress, by surprise, as both are part of the I.N.D.I. Alliance. Negotiations have been going on between the two partners for around 15 seats for the Congress. However, till now there is no clarity over the seats the SP would be offering to the grand old party in case of a seat sharing agreement.
An SP spokesperson requesting anonymity said, “There are no details of the seats the SP leadership is willing to give.” However, according to political analysts, the most desirable Lok Sabha seats for the Congress, apart from Amethi and Rae Bareli, would more or less be Barabanki, Sultanpur, Saharanpur, Bijnor, Farukhabad, Varanasi, Maharajganj, Moradabad, Khiri, Bareilly, Jhansi, Amroha, Dumriyaganj and Kanpur, among others.
Moreover, according to the seat sharing pact between the SP and Jayant Chaudhry’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), discussions are happening on Baghpat, Mathura, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Amroha, Kairana (which could be contested by Chandrashekhar Azad) and Nageena. A source said, “RLD is seeking an eighth seat, for themselves. Out of these 7 seats, 3 candidates could be from SP.”
Another leader suggested that the SP had, in 2017 Assembly elections as well, gradually declared the seats on their own. He added, “By this they are trying to build pressure on the Congress to accept the seat sharing offer as soon as possible. Last time even in Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat, the SP leadership had declared candidates for the Assembly segments, without informing the Congress even though they were in alliance.”
According to a person privy to the developments, before the declaration of 11 seats for the Congress by SP recently—which hasn’t been confirmed by Congress yet—the latter had conducted an internal meeting attended by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, and senior leaders Shivpal Singh Yadav and Ram Gopal Yadav. There it was discussed that the Congress party did not have enough candidates who could appeal to the electorate and make a substantial mark in the elections.
A source said that it was heard that Akhilesh had said that the seats should be decided on winnability “and if there are seats that Congress party can win or if they have a substantial hold over an area, they should name such seats and it would be offered to the Congress”. Also, Akhilesh Yadav said recently, “The Samajwadi Party believes that the candidate who can take on the Bharatiya Janata Party will get the ticket. We are not inclined towards any particular candidate.
Efforts will be made to defeat the BJP,” A senior Congress leader holding an official position in UP said, “I don’t know about seat sharing developments. But I don’t think Congress will agree to 13 seats. We have been eyeing at least 20 seats. Yet I am not aware of the decisions made by the top leadership of the two parties.”
However, another senior Congress leader said that the party will have to adjust if they need to continue being a part of the alliance and should settle for 13 to 15 seats if the SP is offering them. He added, “It seems like SP won’t give Congress more than 15 seats. So the Congress should settle on it as soon as possible.”