This Article is From Jan 20, 2017

Samajwadi Tie-Up Wobbles, Congress Says Will 'Talk to Akhilesh Yadav'

Samajwadi Tie-Up Wobbles, Congress Says Will 'Talk to Akhilesh Yadav'

Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi discuss Congress strategy after Samajwadi Party's list of candidates for UP.

Highlights

  • Akhilesh Yadav's list of candidates leaves Congress upset
  • He has given 9 seats held by Congress to his own candidates
  • Congress meets to review proposed alliance with Akhilesh Yadav
New Delhi: The Congress has said it is "unfortunate" that the Samajwadi Party has announced candidates for nine assembly seats that the Congress holds and admitted it has called their proposed partnership for the Uttar Pradesh elections into question. The party said senior leader Guhlam Nabi Azad would talk to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav now.  

"I will be able to talk about the SP alliance once Ghulam Nabi meets Akhilesh Yadav, said Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken, adding, "We have said that this alliance was concluded earlier with Akhilesh Yadav. Now we will call him again. It's unfortunate that seats of nine sitting MLA s are being taken away... any agreement should be honoured."

Mr Maken's comments came after top Congress leaders held emergency meetings in Delhi to discuss whether and how to salvage the partnership with Akhilesh Yadav, that, both parties have for days declared as almost finalised. While Rahul Gandhi, Congress Vice President met his sister Priyanka at his home, other senior party leaders held a separate meeting.

Akhilesh Yadav scripted a major plot twist earlier today when he released a list of Samajwadi Party candidates for 191 seats, including seven currently held by Congress legislators. In another list of 18 that he released later, two Congress seats were listed.

Naturally, the Congress would like to retain those constituencies among the share that it would get as part of an alliance. But Akhilesh Yadav, who is seeking re-election as Chief Minister, is, according to sources, putting the squeeze on the Congress, which, without his partnership, stands far removed from the contest for the key state of Uttar Pradesh, with a stack of electoral defeats both in the last state election in 2012 and the general election two years later.

Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party has said that of the 403 seats in Uttar Pradesh, it wants its own nominees to contest more than 300. The Congress should ideally get 54 seats, said SP leader Kiranmoy Nanda today, adding "another 30 to 35" at the most - which would give the Congress about 80 or 85 as opposed to the 100 it wants.

The last 48 hours have proved rough for what was being billed as the Grand Alliance or Maha Gathbandhan of Uttar Pradesh, a grouping of non-BJP parties modelled on the coalition that won Bihar in 2015. Ajit Singh and his Rashtriya Lok Dal or RLD, a party with a strong grip on the Jats, especially in Western Uttar Pradesh (which votes ahead of other parts), have decided against teaming with the Congress and Akhilesh Yadav, again because of smaller share of seats than desired.  

No sweat, retorted the Samajwadi Party, stressing that any association with the RLD could damage its standing among loyal Muslim supporters in Western UP, who are wary of Jats after the communal riots of 2013 which left nearly 60 people dead and several thousands homeless.
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