Analysis: With New UP Chief, Congress Looks to Smoothen Ties With Samajwadi Party

Hours after she was appointed president of the Uttar Pradesh unit of the Congress on Friday, Aradhana Misra pointed out that the BJP, which had raised the slogan of crossing the 400-seat mark in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, had suffered a major setback in the state. She asserted that the INDIA bloc, which won 43 constituencies (Samajwadi Party 37 and the Congress 6), had halted the BJP's momentum, and expressed confidence that they would achieve victory in the 2027 elections. 

Misra, also known as 'Mona Misra' in political circles, said her task is to uphold the principles of the alliance. This, together with her other remarks, was viewed as creating the right atmosphere for negotiations with the Samajwadi Party (SP) months ahead of the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. 

READ | 'Will Strengthen Alliance With Samajwadi Party': New UP Congress Chief Aradhana Misra

The team assembled by the Congress, however, also includes Saharanpur MP Imran Masood as the working president. The leader frequently makes headlines for his statements, some of which are directed at the Samajwadi Party, and has also been pulled up by the Congress several times. 

Sources said that now, with Misra as president and Masood as working president, it is expected that a sense of responsibility will prevail, putting an end to the rhetoric that previously caused fluctuations in the relationship between the SP and the Congress.

Vote Math 

By appointing Masood as working president, the Congress has effectively maintained its claim on the Muslim vote bank. The party also has another Imran, Rajya Sabha MP and Minority Wing President Imran Pratapgarhi, who has been tasked with bringing Muslim leaders disgruntled with the Samajwadi Party into the Congress fold. 

The Congress has appointed Chaudhary Virendra Singh as the Leader of the Congress Legislature Party, while Devinder Nishad and Alok Prasad have been named senior vice-presidents of the UP Congress. The new team, thus, features a Brahmin as the UP president, a Muslim as the working president, and representatives from the Nishad and Dalit communities as senior vice-presidents.

READ | Months Ahead Of State Polls, Congress Names New Chiefs For Punjab, UP

SP President Akhilesh Yadav interprets the 'P' in his 'PDA' formula as either 'Pichhda' (backward) or 'Pandit' (Brahmin), and the Congress has now handed the reins of Uttar Pradesh to a 'Pandit'. Aradhana Misra will also have the full support of her father, Pramod Tiwari, the Deputy Leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party in the Rajya Sabha and a nine-time MLA from Uttar Pradesh. Tiwari, a prominent figure in UP politics, has an excellent relationship with Akhilesh Yadav and also shared a warm rapport SP chief's father, Mulayam Singh Yadav. 

Samajwadi Party Reaction

One of the sticking points in the alliance is that the Congress is pushing to contest 150 of the state's 403 Assembly seats. The Samajwadi Party has indicated that it does not want to concede more than 80 seats, and Congress leaders say they don't want to settle for anything less than 100. 

READ | Congress Wants 150 Seats In UP, Samajwadi Party Says Top Leaders Will Decide

Samajwadi Party leaders are acknowledging, privately and publicly, that Misra being at the helm is likely to make seat-sharing negotiations smoother.

Speaking to NDTV, SP MP Rajiv Rai said, "Who they appoint as president is their internal matter, but those holding responsible positions should speak responsibly. I welcome the first statement Mona Misra made after her appointment - that the INDIA alliance will win."